Lifestyle

MOTHER'S NATURE

Model Slammed for ‘Out of Touch’ Essay on Dating as a Single Mom

“She ain’t living in the real world.”

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedJun 12, 2026, 4:43 PM EDT

UpdatedJun 12, 2026, 5:52 PM EDT

Updated Jun 12, 2026, 5:52 PM EDTPublished Jun 12, 2026, 4:43 PM EDT

Comments

Supermodel Emily Ratajkowski’s essay about her experiences dating as a single mother sparked an online frenzy, with many commenters calling her “out of touch.”

On Friday, Ratajkowski, 35, wrote about her experiences with sex after divorce in an essay titled “Mother F---er: After becoming a single mom, I began compulsively dating in order to figure out what kind of woman I wanted to be,” published in The Cut.

“I decided to f--- my way into a new kind of woman,” Ratajkowski wrote about her post-divorce life. “I wanted to destroy the Madonna, the special girl I’d worked so hard to be before an eight-pound baby had torn my vagina in two, and replace her with the wh---.”

The supermodel rose to fame in 2013 after dancing topless in Robin Thicke’s megahit music video for his controversial single “Blurred Lines.”

She later appeared opposite Ben Affleck in Gone Girl in 2014 and published My Body, her New York Times best-selling memoir, in 2022.

In the essay’s principal image, Ratajkowski wears an open blouse that exposes much of her chest while holding a doll to one of her breasts as if breastfeeding.

She gave birth to her son, Sylvester Apollo Bear, in March 2021. At the time, she was married to Uncut Gems co-producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, 45.

In the essay, Ratajkowski detailed her birth experience, during which she pushed for four hours.

“My OB/GYN, in an effort to loosen me, had used her fingers to repeatedly spread my vagina, scratching both me and my son’s delicate, nearly translucent scalp,” she wrote. “At home after being discharged from the hospital, I would find tiny scabs on the top of his head that matched the ones between my legs.”

KNICKS VS. NYX

Knicks Legend Surprises Fans With Makeup Tutorial Video

Roosa Rahkonen

“It was a violent transition into a new reality of screaming baby on my aching tit and ring on my swollen finger.”

Ratajkowski revealed that she and Bear-McClard stopped having sex when Sylvester was six months old. She filed for divorce in September 2022.

Ratajkowski, who has an enormous social media following, including nearly 28 million Instagram followers, said she had no experience with one-night stands prior to her separation. After the divorce, however, she began to “compulsively” date men.

“There was Vegan Graffiti Artist with impeccable posture, Chef who thought he might have chlamydia, Spanish Gen-Zer who couldn’t stop sending me nudes, heavily self-medicated Son of a Billionaire with questionable politics, several Italians, and, of course, another DJ,” she wrote, adding, “The list goes on but, for legal reasons, will not.”

While initially scared of being a single mother, she quickly discovered that many men were attracted to motherhood.

HOLD MY EARRINGS

Stage Mom, 60, Reveals Dramatic Makeover of Her Aging Ears

Roosa Rahkonen

“The character I’d learned to embody after my divorce, in my period of compulsively dating, was a villain: Poison Ivy. Catwoman. Sexual but scary,” she wrote.

Adding, “And she drank gin martinis. Many, many gin martinis.”

The Cut’s Instagram post about the story quickly racked up hundreds of comments.

“Dating as a way to figure out ‘what kind of women’ you want to be...I dunno, doesn’t sound like a great thing to ground your sense of self in,” one person wrote.

Another added, “Cue all of us single mothers (young and old) rolling our eyes…”

Some questioned the relatability of Ratajkowski’s experiences.

“Sounds like a pretty unrelatable experience of single motherhood,” one woman wrote, noting that when she was a single mother in New York City “it didn’t feel ‘bohemian.’ It was expensive, stressful, lonely, and all-consuming.”

“Are men turned on by motherhood or by you because you’re Emily Ratajkowski?” one user asked, while another said, “[She] ain’t living in the real world.”

After her divorce, Ratajkowski was romantically linked to A-listers like actor Brad Pitt and Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson.

“Her perspective on believing [that] being a single mother is an insult is an insult itself. I know a good amount of single mothers who are bada-- and better off without their deadbeats. It’s not wrong to date, but she didn’t have to put herself and others down with that one,” one commenter said, adding, “Yikes.”

Ratajkowski made two posts about the article on her Instagram.

In the first, she shared the article cover, and in the second, she posted behind-the-scenes images from the shoot and a photo of her holding Sylvester Apollo Bear as a baby. (He is now five years old.)

WHEN IT RAINS, IT SHORES

MTV Star’s Photo Flooded With Comments About Her Weight Loss

Roosa Rahkonen

The latter has over 3,900 comments, with some deeming the imagery “beautiful” and others calling it “disturbing” and “weird.”

The first photo showed Ratajkowski holding the baby doll against her breast while holding a martini glass.

“Since when do we breastfeed and drink alcohol?” read one comment with over 1,800 likes. Others commented about the photos “sexualizing” breastfeeding.

Still, the article received many positive comments from single mothers relating to Ratajkowski’s experience, as well as from others who thanked her for her candor.

“Love that she’s honest and real about this part of her life,” a commenter said. “Most wouldn’t admit it.”

Another wrote, “I wonder if anyone in the negative comment section has experienced what it’s like being a single mom? I have, and albeit by choice, I get where she’s coming from!”

Several users voiced frustration with the backlash itself.

“This thread is all: Women tearing down other women,” one person remarked. “Becoming a mom is so hard, a divorce on top of that, losing your identity, feeling alone, she just went through some crazy heartbreaking s--- and no one has empathy for her?”

Play Video

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast.