Getty ImagesSo you took nude photos of yourself. That's OK, everyone does it. You didn't include your face in the picture, did you? Oh, you did? That's a rookie mistake. But as long as the pic doesn't end up online…oh, it did? On Twitter and Facebook, you say? And now your grandma is wondering when you got that tattoo of Chinese symbols meaning "Live Laugh Love" on your pelvic area. You done messed up. But at least you have some options!
We were inspired (is that the right word?) by Disney Channel alum Dylan Sprouse's recent nude photo leak, and we decided to make a handy little guide that you can follow in case you go the celeb route and incriminating photos of your naughty bits somehow make it online. There are five ways to handle a scandal like this, so choose wisely:
1. Deny It: "That's not me. That's someone who looks exactly like me, posing in an apartment exactly like mine, with a birthmark that's exactly where mine is. Close, but not me." Memorize that statement, because if your naked photos end up on the World Wide Web for everyone to see, you can just flat out deny it's you, even if your face is in it! A couple of celebs went this route when alleged nude pics of themselves surfaced: Blake Lively, Olivia Munn and Christina Hendricks are among the stars who vehemently denied that the NSFW images were real.
2. Ignore It: The best part about the Internet (besides all the cat videos) is the short attention span of its users. There is always another scandal, another controversy, or another person doing dumb things just around the corner. If your photos go live, you can choose to just ignore it and wait for the storm to blow over. Give it a couple of days and people will either rediscover "What Does the Fox Say?" or Miley Cyrus/Justin Bieber will do something stupid entertaining again. If you act like you don't care, people will stop caring. Scandals are only fun if the people involved are publically losing their minds over it. When those awesome photos of Prince Harry in Vegas came about, the Palace basically ignored it, and eventually we forgot about it. Sort of.
3. Embrace It: We kind of love that Dylan Sprouse was like, "Yeah, that's me. Also, I'm not young and fat anymore" when his personal pics were leaked. But he's not alone. The Newsroom star Alison Pill totally fessed up after accidentally tweeting a topless pic of herself, saying after the fact: "Yep. That picture happened." She even went on Conan to talk about it and make fun of herself! Some celebs ignore it or go into hiding, but we love that those two shined the spotlight on their mistake. Hey, if you look good in your picture, might as well stand up and tell the world: "You. Are. Welcome."
4. Apologize for It: It's a step below embracing it, but certainly a step above ignoring it. You're admitting to the nude pics, but you're apologizing for just showing the world what your mother gave you! When photos of Disney darling (at the time) Vanessa Hudgens made their way online, she apologized to her fans for the racy images. Yes, it's probably a good career move to apologize if you anger your fanbase. But we think embracing it is cool, too. Or better yet…
5. Leverage It: You can leverage the crap out of your 15 minutes of fame! Send the pics to Playboy/Playgirl. Sue whoever leaked them and use that money to launch your film career. Leak more photos until someone notices you and gives you your own reality show. If you want to follow down the path that Paris Hilton and Teen Mom star Farrah Abrams went down regarding their naughty pics/flicks…then by all means, make them your heroes. Just be sure to take a cold, hard look in the mirror before doing so.
So if you turn on your computer tomorrow and see those naked photos you took of yourself in hopes that one day you could DM them to [insert favorite celebrity here], then just come back to this page and pick one of your options. Or you could not take nude pics of yourself and you can avoid this whole mess. It's your choice.