Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Pretty Little Liars actress Lucy Hale fires back after topless photos are stolen: ‘Embarrassed? No. Angry? Yes.’

Emily Yahr
Saturday 24 December 2016 11:05 EST
Lucy Hale
Lucy Hale (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

After the massive celebrity photo hack two years ago, when multiple female stars had their intimate pictures stolen and posted online, many people blamed the victims for the crime: One common refrain was “Don’t take nude selfies,” or a variation of, “What did you expect if you took naked photos?”

“Pretty Little Liars” star Lucy Hale faced a similar reaction on Thursday night after TMZ reported that two topless photos were stolen from the actress’s phone and published on a website; her lawyer sent a letter demanding they be removed. On Twitter, many fans sent supportive messages — but one user tweeted, “Well, Lucy Hale must be embarrassed.”

While a common instinct might be to ignore the Internet entirely after a horrible invasion of privacy, Hale, 27, decided to address the matter directly. “Why would I be embarrassed?” she tweeted back almost immediately. “I got violated and someone illegally stole my photos. Embarrassed? No. angry? Yes.”

The Twitter user immediately backed down and wrote the original tweet had been a joke, but fans jumped to defend Hale. “Why are people acting as if it’s your fault? Once again a woman’s personal things were violated and the woman gets blamed,” another user wrote.

Shortly after, Hale elaborated with a longer statement: “Well, I wasn’t going to comment on something so ridiculous, but since 2017 is gonna be all about speaking my truth…I’m going to say something,” she wrote. “Once again, a woman in the public eye was violated, stolen from and her private life and body were exposed for anyone to see. I will not apologize for living my life and having a personal life that is all mine. It’s truly unfortunate that being exposed in this way is allowed.”

The site that published the photos eventually deleted them, according to the New York Daily News.

Copyright: Washington Post.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in