Related Articles
A year ago, Florence Pugh wore a sheer pink Valentino dress that threw the internet into a tizzy over her bare nipples. The Oppenheimer actress revisited the controversy in a recent interview with Elle UK, and made it clear that she still doesn’t care what people have to say about her body.
“I speak the way I do about my body because I’m not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge in between my arm and my boob: I would much rather lay it all out,” Pugh toldfellow actress Jodie Turner-Smith.
She added, “I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that I’ve shown ‘too much’ of myself. When everything went down with the Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up.”
In July 2022, Pugh shared photos of herself wearing a Valentino gown to the designer’s haute couture show. She spoke out against the body shaming at the time, writing in an Instagram post that she was “excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous.”
“What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see,” the actress pointed out in her caption.
Pugh emphasized that the negative reactions were a reflection of social norms designed to keep women down based on their appearance. “It’s the freedom that people are scared of; the fact I’m comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time,” she told Elle. “I think we’re in this swing now where lots of people are saying, ‘I don’t give a shit.’ Unfortunately, we’ve become so terrified of the human body that we can’t even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isn’t sexual. We need to keep reminding everybody that there is more than one reason for women’s bodies [to exist].”
