Olympian Lindsey Vonn Is Fighting Back After Her Nude Photos Were Leaked Online
Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and her ex-boyfriend, golfer Tiger Woods, are the latest celebrities affected by a nude photo hack—along with Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart, Katharine McPhee, and Stella Maxwell.
TMZ reported on Monday that private photos of these stars starting popping up on a porn website, which was later identified as Celebrity Jihad, the page responsible for the nude leaks in 2014 that involved Jennifer Lawrence and Gabrielle Union. (That incident is now known, unfortunately, as “The Fappening.”) According to TMZ, Woods and McPhee had already hired legal counsel to fight against these leaks. As for Vonn, a spokesperson for the athlete released a statement to People condemning the group who published the photos.
“It is an outrageous and despicable invasion of privacy for anyone to steal and illegally publish private intimate photos,” the representative said. “[Lindsey Vonn] will take all necessary and appropriate legal action to protect and enforce her rights and interests. She believes the individuals responsible for hacking her private photos as well as the websites that encourage this detestable conduct should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.”
And it looks like the hacker(s) received this message. According to the Los Angeles Times, the photos disappeared from Celebrity Jihad at around 7:30 A.M. PDT Tuesday morning (August 22).
This situation is eerily similar to what happened to Emma Watson in March and, of course, “The Fappening” from three years ago. In November 2014, Lawrence told Vanity Fair that her photo hack was a “sex crime,” and she’s absolutely right. These pictures were never intended for public consumption, which means even looking at them is wrong. Taking a quick glance at a celebrity’s nude photos is the equivalent of a creep watching you undress from your closet. It’s a private moment, and invading someone’s intimate space is never OK—even if it’s from your iPhone.