A model and actor who appeared in the music video for Robin Thicke’s controversial 2013 smash “Blurred Lines” discusses why she has tried to disassociate herself from the project in the decade since its release.
In an interview with Bustle published Wednesday, Elle Evans spoke at length about her “Blurred Lines” experience. During the interview, she mentioned her co-star Emily Ratajkowski’s claim that Thicke molested her during the production.
Though Evans did not witness any misbehavior on Thicke’s side, she noticed a tone shift on the “Blurred Lines” set after the singer’s one-on-one sequences with Ratajkowski were over.
“All the stuff with Emily and Robin there together, that was a closed set. So they had no one else watching,” she said. “But what I remember is that, toward the end of the shoot, Emily did leave very abruptly. There was kind of a bit of a scramble among the production team, like, ‘What are we gonna do? How do we shoot the rest of the video without her?’”
“I was told she had a flight to catch,” she continued.
Watch Robin Thicke’s video for “Blurred Lines” below.
Ratajkowski made her charges against Thicke public in her 2021 memoir, “My Body.”
Ratajkowski said that Thicke sexually groped her breasts while recording the video, according to an excerpt from the book published in the Sunday Times in the United Kingdom.
“Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind,” she wrote. “I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke. He smiled a goofy grin and stumbled backward, his eyes concealed behind his sunglasses. My head turned to the darkness beyond the set. [The director, Diane Martel’s] voice cracked as she yelled out to me, ‘Are you okay?’”
Ratajkowski’s charges were supported by Martel, who has previously directed videos for Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey. Thicke had been inebriated throughout the filming; she said in 2021, and later “sheepishly apologized” for his behavior.
“I don’t think he would have done this had he been sober,” she added.
Thicke has yet to respond to Ratajkowski’s allegations. HuffPost reached out to the singer’s representative for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Despite her unfavorable “Blurred Lines” experience, Evans has kept in touch with the music industry. She married Muse frontman Matt Bellamy in 2019. She also starred in Beyoncé’s videos for “Haunted” and “Superpower.”
She described the 2014 projects as “some of the best shoots I’ve been in just as far as production.”
“Robin Thicke, Pharrell, and T.I. are well-known in the industry, but they don’t compare to Beyoncé.” “Robin Thicke isn’t even in the same league,” she told Bustle. “It’s as if it’s in a completely different category.”
