Love Island star Phoebe Thompson shares naked photo that ruined her life

The reality star posed in a photo that was just supposed to be a “bit of fun” but nearly cost her job and relationship. Now she’s hitting back.

For Phoebe Thompson posing naked with a VB bottle was supposed to be just “a bit of fun”.

But the Love Island Australia star has revealed how she was left feeling “ashamed” after the photo went viral, also putting her job and relationship in jeopardy.

Now Thompson has decided to repost the photo that saw her quit the social media platform and is sharing her story to encourage other women not to feel shame for their bodies.

The Sydney-based credit analyst told news.com.au she had posed for the photo five years ago and things took an unexpected turn when the picture began being widely shared online.

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Love Island Australia Phoebe Thompson has opened up about how a naked photo left her feeling ‘ashamed’. Picture: Instagram.

“This photo actually ended up going viral over social media which lead to a lot of backlash and judgement!” she wrote on Instagram, explaining she believes that "being naked is completely normal".

“My boyfriend at the time said I wasn’t 'wife material'. I was called into NUMEROUS meetings with HR who said I was unfit to be working for their company if my body was going to (be) exposed on the internet.”

Thompson said she “ended up feeling ashamed of myself and my body” and retreated from social media.

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“I ended up deleting Instagram for awhile then came back and went on private until I was forced to go off private when I did love island,” she wrote.

But now Thompson has realised there was nothing wrong with the photo and “no matter what you do as a women you’ll never win” because of society’s expectations.

She told news.com.au that since appearing on Love Island Australia she has realised “how brutal the world is and how harshly women are treated”.

“I posted the photo because I wanted to give comfort to other women to let them know that you don’t have fit into a box, that you can make choices about what you do with your own body,” Thompson said.

“I also wanted to show other women that I myself feel pressure as well to be perfect too and they are not alone.

“What frustrates me is that if (a) man posted this photo with the iconic Australian VB can it would be considered comedic.

“This photo was a stereotype on Australian bogan culture and generally just a bit of fun.”

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Thompson said the photo saw her temporarily delete her Instagram account. Picture: Instagram.

‘NEVER GOING TO APOLOGISE FOR THE WAY I LOOK’

Thompson's post has since attracted hundreds of comments, applauding her for sharing her story and the photo again.

“95 per cent of the responses were positive, the large amount of messages and reports of my caption was overwhelming and I’m so glad that so so so many women were personally touched,” Thompson told news.com.au

“Loooove this! Perfectly put,” Bachelor runner-up Abbie Chatfield wrote, while others wrote that being shamed for showing their body is something they too could related too.

“The most beautiful caption,” one person commented. “I can definitely say that I have been made to feel this way many times, as I’m sure so many other woman can relate. I love to hear woman talking about this!!”

Thompson said most of the responses had been supportive, however, she had been targeted by some trolls. Picture: Instagram.

Talking about the backlash on her Instagram Story, Thompson said that while she knew she would be “getting trolls coming in hot” she was still going to share whatever she wants.

“I like being controversial and saying stuff that gets people thinking. I’m not the kind of girl who’s just going to post about makeup tutorials, definitely not me,” she said.

“But to assume that my life has been easy simply because of the way I look is just so f***ing ignorant, because you have no idea what my life has been like, at all.

“I’m never going to apologise for the way I look either, or my body, because I work f***ing hard for my body.”