Emily Ratajkowski shares pic of her 14-year-old self that she’d use to prove her body was ‘natural’

She’s one of the world’s most famous models, regularly revealing her figure on Instagram while showing off pieces from her swimwear collection.

However, Emily Ratajkowski has said it took her time to realise there was more to her than “sexiness” as she posted a photo of herself aged 14 online.

The star, now 28, revealed the image – of her wearing a bikini while posing on a beach – was one she would show people to prove that her body was “natural”.

But she admitted the snap now makes her “sad” as at that point she didn’t feel the world was encouraging her to be “more than just my body”.

Captioning the picture posted to her 25 million followers, Emily wrote: “I used to like showing people this photo of me at 14 to prove that my body is natural.

“Now I’m a little sad it exists at all. I was just a kid in this picture and I wish the world had encouraged my 14-year-old self to be more than just my body.

“All of that said, I do still feel like I’ve been empowered through my body and my sexuality via modeling and platforms like Instagram.

“Luckily I have discovered the parts of me that are so much more important than ‘sexiness’, but if you’re a 14-year-old girl reading this, don’t worry about any of that for now.

“Read lots of books and know that what you see on Instagram is just a very small fraction of complete and beautifully complex human beings.”

Since being shared, the post has received 1.6 million ‘likes’ and 12,100-plus comments.

One person wrote: “Queen of inspiration.”

Another commented: “Beautiful message.”

A third shared: “Well said.”

And a fourth added: “Such an important message for young people.”

It comes after Emily stepped in to defend friend Caitlin King from internet trolls after she shared a beach snap online.

In March last year, the model posted a black and white picture of them sunbathing in Florida wearing pieces from her Inamorata line.

While many social media users praised the image which showed off two different body types, others cruelly criticised her curvier pal’s figure – causing Emily issue a rebuttal.

She wrote: “I love my friends body and both her and I think she looks great here! And I’m proud she’s rocking my suits.

“All these haters are crazy. Just because you’re used to seeing one body type on the internet doesn’t mean that that’s the only kind that should be considered ‘beautiful’.”