14 DAY TRIAL // Kate Upton is the perfect example of how one can become a star overnight thanks to the Internet, on the condition that one be insanely hot. People started hearing her name more often when she posted a video of herself doing the “Cat Daddy” at a game, but she only “arrived” after her GQ photoshoot with Terry Richardson.
While on set, Terry got her to do the “Cat Daddy” again, this time in the tiniest string bikini ever, and he posted the video online. It went viral immediately, propelling Kate to international fame, but she admits now that she was furious at Richardson for it.
The video was never meant to go public
Considering that she owes her entire career to it, that seems like a very harsh thing to say. Still, Kate insists, when she heard that the video was out (including a slow-mo segment in case anyone missed a single second of jiggling breasts and suggestive moves), she lashed out at Richardson.
“That was disrespectful, you could have told me!” she yelled at him, as per her admission in a new interview cited by PageSix.
Kate was made to believe that the footage was being shot for the fun of it, that they would just be larking around and no one would find out. Basically, Richardson went behind her back by posting the video online, and she felt degraded for it.
“Now, obviously, it’s fine,” Upton tells the magazine, when asked if she still hates the photographer for the indiscretion.
A rather thin story
Though Kate shot to fame in 2012, she’d been working in the industry for a long time before this huge break. Considering her experience, it would be hard to believe that she imagined she, as a model, would be given the final say into what could and what should not go into a magazine spread.
While certain models can have some input into what pictures are used for a spread, the final decision is of the editor and the photographer. The photographer, in this case, was the controversial fashion snapper Terry Richardson, he who is known for the way in which he sexualizes the models he works with (among other things).
To put it differently, even if Kate had some kind of input in the spread (which she probably didn’t), the mere fact that she was working with Richardson and there was a camera rolling should have prepared her for the possibility that the material could be used.
Speaking of the video, it is available on Vimeo.