Robin Thicke has been pictured for the first time since Emily Ratajkowski accused him of groping her bare breasts while on the set of his infamous Blurred Lines music video back in 2013.
The 44-year-old singer was seen with his fiancée April Love Geary and their two daughters Mia and Lola, as they shopped for Halloween decorations at a 99c store in Los Angeles on Sunday. Their youngest child, son Luca, was not pictured with them.
The sighting came just hours after supermodel Ratajkowski, 30, made bombshell allegations about Thicke in her upcoming book My Body, in which she claims that the musician sexually assaulted by reaching around her from behind and ‘cupping her bare breasts’ in his hands.
Thicke, whose hit song Blurred Lines has faced a barrage of controversy over the years thanks to its risque video and sexually-explicit lyrics, has yet to respond to the claims and he maintained his silence as he stepped out with his family.
The musician seemed keen to remain under the radar while shopping at the 99c store, covering his face with a protective mask and a pair of sunglasses, which he wore under a black baseball cap.
Exclusive: Robin Thicke has been pictured for the first time since Emily Ratajkowski accused him of sexually assaulting her on the set of his explicit Blurred Lines video in 2013
Pictured: Thicke, now 44, was seen shopping at a 99c store in Los Angeles with his fiancée April Love Geary, 26, and two of their three children
In an excerpt from her upcoming book My Body, Ratajkowski alleges that Thicke groped her bare breasts while they were filming the music video for his controversial hit
His partner April, who is 18 years his junior, also donned a baseball cap, opting for a white Alo Yoga design, as well as her own dark glasses and a leopard-print face mask.
Thicke held two-year-old daughter Lola Alain in one arm and pushed a shopping cart filled with the family’s purchases, while April, 26, walked hand-in-hand with their oldest child Mia Love, who was born in 2018.
The couple, who have been dating since 2014 and got engaged on Christmas Eve 2018, appeared to have left their youngest child, ten-month-old son Luca, at home.
Thicke and Geary walked towards their car with their kids, before loading their Halloween-themed purchases into the trunk together.
Their joint outing came just one day after Ratajkowski’s damning allegations against Thicke were revealed by the Sunday Times of London, which published several quotes from My Body about the model’s experiences on the set of the Blurred Lines video – which catapulted both her and Thicke’s careers, but was blighted by controversy, with many accusing the musician of promoting date rape culture in the lyrics.
At the time of the video shoot, Thicke was married to actress Paula Patton, with whom he shares an 11-year-old son, Julian Fuego Thicke.
The two separated in 2014, and Patton cited in her divorce filing his alleged abuse toward her, as well as drug abuse and infidelity as reasons for their separation. Much like Thicke and Geary, Patton has kept silent about the accusations against her ex-husband.
United front: Both Thicke and Geary went about their day as they loaded up their car
Shop: Thicke – who has yet to respond to the claims – was dressed down in casual wear for the family outing. He and his wife April, 26, also share a son named Luca
Carrying on: Ratajkowski makes the damning allegation against Thicke in her new book ‘My Body’, set to be released next month, according to the Sunday Times of London
Recalling the bombshell incident in her book, Ratajkowski says the duo were standing alone on the set, with the model appearing naked from the waist up.
According to the model, who was relatively unknown at the time of the video shoot, Thicke appeared to get ‘a little drunk’ during filming, which caused his behavior on-set during the shoot – which was done with an all-female team – to change.
Then, when the pair were shooting a scene together, she says that ‘out of nowhere’ she felt someone’s hands ‘cupping her bare breasts’, before turning around to realize the person was Thicke.
‘Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind,’ alleges the model-turned-actress.
‘I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke.’
Ratajkowski claims the singer-songwriter ‘stumbled backward’ and smiled at her, before the set director – who noticed what had happened – stepped in.
Relationship: Thicke met Geary in 2014. They welcomed their first daughter, three-year-old Mia Love, in 2018, and they got engaged on Christmas Eve of that year
Silent: DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Thicke and Ratajkowski for comment
Daddy duty: The Blurred Lines singer was seen with his family on Sunday
Staying steady: Thicke and his wife appeared to be carrying on as normal amid the controversy
‘He smiled a goofy grin and stumbled backward, his eyes concealed behind his sunglasses,’ she writes.
‘My head turned to the darkness beyond the set. [Director Diane Martel’s] voice cracked as she yelled out to me, “Are you okay?”‘
In the book, Ratajkowski says she felt ‘the heat of humiliation pump through’ her body after the alleged fondling and suddenly ‘felt naked for the first time that day.’
The supermodel says she didn’t speak out in the moment saying she felt ‘desperate to minimize’ what happened.
‘I pushed my chin forward and shrugged, avoiding eye contact, feeling the heat of humiliation pump through my body,’ the book reads.
‘I didn’t react – not really, not like I should have.’
Ratajkowski, who tied the knot with Uncut Gems producer Sebastian Bear-McClard in 2018 and gave birth to their first child Sylvester Apollo Bear in March, says she is speaking out years later as she didn’t let herself come to terms with what had happened at the time.
The supermodel, now 30, claims the R&B star, now 44, had been drinking when he sexually assaulted her on set (pictured together in the music video)
Standing tall: Emily Ratajkowski, 30, kept her head high as she stepped out in New York on Sunday with husband Sebastian Bear-McClard and their son Sly, six months
Taking it easy: She wore a striped shirt for the HBO series The Sopranos, plus high-waisted jeans and white trainers while pushing little Sylvester
She says she was then reminded of the alleged sexual assault when she noticed Thicke had blocked her from Instagram.
THE TROUBLED HISTORY OF BLURRED LINES FROM ‘PROMOTION OF RAPE CULTURE’ TO PLAGARIZM
‘Promoting rape culture’
The explicit video and the lyrics for Blurred Lines sparked instant controversy on its 2013 release.
The video shows the three models semi-naked being pursued by fully-clothed men.
A second cut was then released a week after the original that included topless footage of the three models.
Meanwhile, lyrics in the song included ‘I hate these blurred lines, I know you want it’ and ‘Must wanna get nasty’.
Rape victims said the lyrics were similar to those spoken by their attackers and both the video and song was slammed for promoting rape culture, sexism and the objectification of women.
This February, Thicke claimed there was ‘no negative intentions’ with the nature of the video and lyrics but admitted he wouldn’t release it today.
Plagiarizing Marvin Gaye
Blurred Lines also proved to be trouble for Thicke and his collaborators from a financial sense.
In 2015, the estate of the late singer Marvin Gay won a $5.3 million judgment against him and Pharrell Williams after accusing them of lifting passages from Gaye’s song Got To Give It Up, from 1977.
Thicke claimed in court he had not actually written any of Blurred Lines, despite being listed as a songwriter.
A federal jury found the pair guilty of copyright infringement.
A panel of judges upheld the decision on appeal.
Marvin Gaye’s daughter Nona Gaye outside LA court following the ruling
DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Thicke and Ratajkowski for comment. Multiple attempts by the Times to contact Thicke’s reps were also unanswered.
Set director Martel confirmed Ratajkowski’s account of the incident in the Times’ report.
‘I remember the moment that he grabbed her breasts, one in each hand,’ she told the paper.
‘He was standing behind her as they were both in profile. I screamed in my very aggressive Brooklyn voice, ‘What the f*** are you doing, that’s it! The shoot is over!”
According to her, Thicke had been drinking and ‘sheepishly’ apologized after the alleged groping incident and acted as if he was ‘contrite’.
‘As if he knew it was wrong without understanding how it might have felt for Emily,’ she said.
Martel said she believes Thicke’s actions were spurred by his drunken state.
‘I don’t think he would have done this had he been sober,’ she said.
Martel said she halted the shoot and told the record company it was over but the alleged victim ‘said we could go on’.
The director described Ratajkowski as ‘very professional’ and ‘the star of the video.’
‘We kept on and Emily was phenomenal. She’s really the star of the video,’ she said.
‘She’s fully mocking him and the male gaze with her beautiful shape and ferocious energy.
‘She’s playful, not seductive. And quite hilarious.’
However, she lamented that Thicke’s actions undermined the feeling of female empowerment she had hoped to create on the set.
The aim had been to flip the gender power roles on their heads with semi-naked women spurning the advances of the men.
‘With that one gesture, Robin Thicke had reminded everyone on set that we women weren’t actually in charge,’ she said.
‘I didn’t have any real power as the naked girl dancing around in his music video.
‘I was nothing more than the hired mannequin.’
While this is the first time Ratajkowski has spoken out about the alleged groping incident, the 30-year-old has described the Blurred Lines video as the ‘bane’ of her ‘existence.’
‘I wasn’t into the idea at all at first. I think I came off as a bit annoyed in the video,’ she admitted in a 2015 profile for InStyle UK.
‘Now, it’s the bane of my existence. When anyone comes up to me about Blurred Lines, I’m like, are we seriously talking about a video from three years ago?’
This isn’t the first time Thicke has been accused of groping a woman.
In 2013, a socialite posted a photo of the married singer groping her butt on her Instagram page at a party following the MTV VMAs. Thicke’s wife was also at the party at the time.
Thicke did not seem concerned about the upcoming revelations in Ratajkowski’s book as he posted a video on Instagram of himself watching The Little Mermaid movie with his young children at home Saturday afternoon
Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and Emily Ratajkowski in the music video for the controversial 2013 hit Blurred Lines
Lana Scolaro, then a student living in New York City, did not seem concerned about the grab, and in 2014 – after Thicke split with his first wife Paula Patton – told TMZ ‘I’d love to grab a drink with him if he asked’.
Blurred Lines went to number one worldwide but it was the video of the three semi-naked models – Ratajkowski, Elle Evans and Jessi M’Bengue – along with Thicke, Pharrell Williams and rapper T.I. that captured the most attention.
Ratajkowski makes the damning allegation in her new book ‘My Body’ (above)
While the initial version of the video didn’t feature nudity, Thicke released a second cut a week later that included topless footage of the three models.
The explicit video and the song’s lyrics – which included ‘I hate these blurred lines, I know you want it’ and ‘Must wanna get nasty’ – sparked instant controversy.
Rape victims said the lyrics were similar to those spoken by their attackers and it was slammed for promoting rape culture, sexism and the objectification of women.
This February, Thicke claimed there was ‘no negative intentions’ with the nature of the video and lyrics but admitted he wouldn’t release a song like it today.
‘But then it did open up a conversation that needed to be had. And it doesn’t matter what your intentions were when you wrote the song… the people were being negatively affected by it,’ he said.
‘And I think now, obviously, culture, society has moved into a completely different place. You won’t see me making any videos like that ever again!’
But, despite the controversy, Blurred Lines video catapulted both Ratajkowski and Thicke further into the spotlight.
Ratajkowski has since expanded from modeling into acting, and now writing.
She is also an advocate for women’s health issues.
This isn’t the first time Thicke has been accused of groping a woman. In 2013, a socialite posted a photo (above) of the married singer groping her butt on her Instagram page at a party following the MTV VMAs
The video’s director, Diane Martel, confirmed she witnessed the incident and immediately halted the shoot before the alleged victim said they could go on
Meanwhile, the song launched Thicke’s music career.
In February of this year, he returned with his eighth studio album On Earth, And In Heaven, and is also a judge on The Masked Singer.
Following the break-up of his marriage, Thicke has kept a lower profile.
He moved on with April Love Geary, whom he reportedly met in 2014.
They welcomed their first daughter, three-year-old Mia Love, in 2018, and they got engaged on Christmas Eve of that year.
Their second daughter, Lola Alain, was born in February 2019, and April gave birth to a son, Luca, in December of 2020.
Ratajkowski’s book My Body is a series of essays chronicling moments in her life an career ‘while investigating the culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the grey area between consent and abuse.’
It is described as a ‘deeply honest investigation of what it means to be a woman and a commodity from Emily Ratajkowski, the archetypal, multi-hyphenate celebrity of our time.’
At the time of the video shoot, Thicke was married to actress Paula Patton (pictured together in 2014), with whom he shares an 11-year-old son Julian Fuego Thicke
Thicke is now with Geary (pictured together in February 2020), whom he reportedly met in 2014. They have three children together
The book, published by Macmillan Publishers, will be released on November 9.
Blurred Lines also proved to be trouble for Thicke and his collaborators from a financial sense.
In 2015, the estate of the late singer Marvin Gay won a $5.3 million judgment against him and Farrell after accusing them of lifting passages of Blurred Lines from Gaye’s song Got To Give It Up, from 1977.
Thicke claimed in court that he had not actually written any of Blurred Lines, despite being listed on the project as a songwriter.
At the time of the original ruling that Williams and Thicke had plagiarized the song, some legal scholars and copyright experts excoriated the decision, claiming that it was based on a general feeling that the two songs were similar, rather than being focused on specific musical aspects that they shared.
In a 2015 piece for The New Yorker, legal scholar Tim Wu wrote that the decision was a ‘serious error’ because it focused on superficial similarities.
‘The Gaye estate’s copyright covers only the notes of his song (the composition), and not the way it was played (the sound recording). These copyrights are separate,’ Wu wrote.
He claimed the judge was ‘legally obliged to throw out the case,’ rather than letting the jury come to its original conclusion, as the note sequences in Blurred Lines aren’t shared with Got To Give It Up, even though the two songs sound similar to many listeners.
However, a panel of judges mostly upheld the decision on appeal.