Outspoken,Unapologetic, Ambitious - Meet The Real Emily

She found fame dancing half-naked in a music video, but has gone on to carve out a credible acting career. When it comes to EmilyRatajkowski, the biggest mistake would be to under estimate her

- Katie Glass

LIKE MOST PEOPLE, I first noticed Emily Ratajkowski in Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines video, the uncensored version of which features her dancing naked except for a flesh-coloured G-string. Later, she played a busty schoolgirl in Gone Girl. Her career since has featured many half-naked Instagram pics. All of which is why Piers Morgan has written her offas a ‘global bimbo’, sniping that her feminism would make Emmeline Pankhurst turn in her grave.

It’s lucky, then, that I don’t judge women by what Piers Morgan thinks of them. Look harder, and there have always been clear signs that there’s far more to Emily than her body. She is politically engaged – supporting Bernie Sanders and a radical left; campaigning for Planned Parenthood. Her performance in upcoming ’80s-set romcom Cruise has been hailed as ‘superb’ by critics.

Emily is mid-shoot when I arrive. She is head-turningly beautiful – long limbs, delicate features, pooling brown eyes. As interesting, watching her, is how aware of her body she is, studying the photographer’s images, considering her angles, the jut of her hip. Before Emily, 27, was a model, she studied history of art. Now, she says – settling down, swaddled in a giant white robe – she enjoys the way Instagram allows her to marry curating and art-directing. Are selfies art? ‘Yes!’ she grins, ‘I think selfies have more to do with talking about gaze, especially for women. I don’t know if that is always art but they definitely engage in a conversation about the gaze – a new level of self-portrait.’ She hates art elitism, though. ‘The thing that made me not like the art world is snobbery and the bullshit,’ she grins. ‘Art in every form should be about a visceral response.’