Kate Upton is vowing legal action after she and her boyfriend, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, were caught up in a wave of le-ked celebrity n-de photos that appeared on the Internet over the weekend.
The FBI said it is investigating.
The photos appear to show Verlander and model Upton in several states of undress. In one picture, Upton is apparently shooting a photo of her and Verlander, both n-ked in a mirror.
Representatives for model-turned-actress Upton, 22, and actress Jennifer Lawrence, 24, who plays heroine Katniss Everdeen in the “Hunger Games” movie franchise, demanded an investigation into the le-ked pictures, which first appeared on an image-sharing site over the weekend.
In a statement to Us magazine, Upton’s lawyer, Lawrence Shire said, “This is obviously an outrageous violation of our client Kate Upton’s privacy.”
He added, “We intend to pursue anyone disseminating or duplicating these illegally obtained images to the fullest extent possible.”
Verlander has not commented on the le-k.
Just last month, Upton explained to Details magazine why she won’t pose n-de for photographers:
“For me those photos are art. Your body is art, your body is beautiful, and to be photographed in that way is amazing and it’s received in a very positive way. But with social media and the Internet and not so great blogs and the attention like that, I don’t think that my pictures would be received in the way that I’d want them to be received. That’s why I’ve stayed away from them. I really appreciate those photos and I think those women are beautiful, but I think social media and the Internet has prevented me from putting myself out there like that.”
The FBI said Monday it was “aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high-profile individuals, and is addressing the matter.”
“Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time,” spokeswoman Laura Eimiller wrote in a statement.
Apple said Monday it was looking into whether its online photo-sharing service had been hacked to obtain the intim-te images.
Other celebs targeted in the le-k include Nickelodeon’s Victoria Justice, “Sky High” and “Final Destination 3” actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, pop star Ariana Grande and actress Kirsten Dunst.
Lawrence, who won an Oscar for her role in “Silver Linings Playbook,” had contacted authorities to investigate who stole and posted n-de images, a publicist for the actress said.
Justice took to Twitter to deny the authenticity of the photos that appeared to be of her. She wrote: “These so called n-des of me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun intended*”
But Winstead scolded those who looked at her shots, and said she felt for the others affected. “To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves,” she posted on Twitter.
The authenticity of the other photos has not been verified.
Some cybersecurity experts speculated that hackers may have obtained a cache of private celebrity images by exploiting weaknesses in an online image-storing platform.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said the company was investigating whether any iCloud accounts had been tampered with, but she did not give any further details.
“We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,” she said.
After the images appeared, Engadget, a Web magazine that covers consumer electronics and technology, reported that Apple has fixed a bug that could have enabled hackers to gain access to iCloud accounts — and then potentially le-k n-de photos of celebrities — according to a tech report Monday.
