Entertainment

Sia Just Posted A Nude Photo Of Herself For The Most Kickass Reason

by Nicole Pomarico
Getty Images/Bustle

Sia has always been about making a statement, and this time, it's a pretty big one. On Monday night, Sia shared her own naked photo that someone was trying to sell on a shady website. Not only did she keep paparazzi from making a profit off of her naked body, but she also took control over the story herself, and her fans couldn't be rooting for her harder.

From the photo the "Chandelier" singer shared herself, it's impossible to tell who was trying to sell the pictures, but it's very clear that they were taken without her knowledge. In the photo, which seems to be taken from a distance and is covered in a watermark, Sia's back is to the camera and she's completely nude as she stands on some kind of balcony. The worst part, though, is the message that's under the screenshot Sia took from the paparazzi site: "If you make the purchase it will be unblurred and you will receive and [sic] additional 14 images."

Sia took that as her cue to share the photo across both her Instagram and Twitter accounts — including a reference to her new holiday album, Everyday is Christmas, which is due later this month. "Someone is apparently trying to sell naked photos of me to my fans," she wrote. "Save your money, here it is for free. Everyday is Christmas!"

And since that post, which has already amassed more than 246,000 likes on Twitter, fans everywhere are singing her praises. Not only have some tweeted about how good she looks, but most seem to be cheering on the way she took on the paparazzi. Some are even calling her a legend for this move — including fellow singer Sara Bareilles — and they're not wrong. This is totally a "did she really do that?" moment.

Many celebrity nude photo leaks are at the hands of either hackers who have somehow gained access to photos someone has taken themselves or from paparazzi who catch a celebrity during a private moment. Not only were these photos of Sia shared without her consent, but they were also obviously taken without her consent, too. Of course, regardless of the source of the nude photo, sharing them is never OK, and it seems especially sleazy when they're shared in an attempt to make money like the site involved with Sia's pictures.

It's hard to imagine what being followed by paparazzi is like, regardless of whether or not they make their presence known. But an effective way to shut down their unethical practices is by taking away the demand for these photos, which Sia has definitely accomplished. By sharing the photo for free, she could be stopping people from paying for it, sending a message to the photographer that could hit them in the wallet, right where it hurts.

But even if no one stood to make money from these photos, Sia still deserves props for the way she handled the situation. It must be scary — or at the very least, stressful — to find out that someone has gotten their hands on photos of you that you never intended the world to see. But Sia took control of the way this story is told, and instead of the nude photos themselves being the center of that story, now, it's all about how she beat the paparazzi at their own game.

It would be awesome to live in a world where leaked nude photos is something that no one has to worry about, but the steps Sia has taken to shut down even some of the financial gain someone may have gotten from her photos brings us just a bit closer to that becoming reality.