Many artists fight tooth and nail to prevent nude pictures of themselves from being posted online. Australian singer-songwriter Sia, when faced with the threat of paparazzi selling those images to the highest bidder, took matters into her own hands.
The artist, who regularly hides her face under wigs, posted a rear nude photo, seemingly of herself, on Twitter Monday night, with the caption “Someone is apparently trying to sell naked photos of me to my fans. Save your money, here it is for free. Everyday is Christmas!” (Everyday is Christmas is also the name of her forthcoming album, of which pre-orders begin Nov. 17.)
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The photo has a watermark from an unknown photo agency and there do appear to be others for sale. It was seemingly taken with a telephoto lens from a significant distance away.
Fans praised Sia, who has also written songs for artists including Beyonce, Katy Perry and Adele, for her courage in posting the picture.
Nude photos of celebrities have always been popular among paparazzi, but the number of famous people who have had their privacy intruded upon has been on the rise for the past several years—starting with a 2014 iCloud intrusion that resulted in almost 500 personal, intimate photos of celebrities being released online.