Christy Turlington Burns will not be nude-shamed.
The supermodel recently recalled an experience she had while attending one of her son Finn's high school basketball games during which she learned that the opposing team passed around a naked photo of her from an old photo shoot in order to heckle.
"I was surprised it hadn't happened sooner," the 55-year-old told Harper's Bazaar in an interview posted April 24. "But at the same time, I was like, 'This is so rude!'"
The discovery was distressing for Christy, who shares Finn, 18, and daughter Grace, 20, with husband Ed Burns, with her admitting, "All I wanted to do was disappear."
But she has no regrets about taking part in the shoot. "I don't feel embarrassed about anything," she said. "Regretting things is a waste of time."
Christy, who began modeling as a teenager, reflected on her first revealing photo shoot in the Apple TV+ docuseries The Super Models, recalling how a photographer convinced her to pose topless when she was "probably 17." One of the nude photos he took ended up on the cover of a magazine.
"I remember being like self-conscious, but I didn't feel necessarily bad. I felt good from that shoot. I felt pretty in that moment," the supermodel said. "I do remember being like, 'Oh my gosh! I'm not so supposed to be— I shouldn't be doing this."
She continued, "I don't think there was any age that you were supposed to be in order to have a nude picture. I don't think there was anybody monitoring or regulating any of that."
A few years later, she would go on to appear in what became an iconic nude group photo, one of the most famous fashion pics of all time. The 1989 pic, taken by late photographer Herb Ritts, shows Christy and fellow supermodels Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford, the late Tatjana Patitz, and Naomi Campbell posing naked together.
Christy was not originally supposed to take part in the photo shoot but ended up agreeing to take a few shots.
"I kind of respect and admire people who can be comfortable in their bodies and comfortable naked. If I'm working with somebody that I trust, and that I have respect for, and I understand their vision, then I can take some risks," she said on The Super Models. "If I can trust that person capturing it, and I know what they see and I know that my comfort is gonna make that image that much more exciting, interesting, whatever, then I can kind of go there."