Inside Emily Ratajkowski’s doomed marriage to ‘cheat’ hubby Sebastien Bear-McClard – from rent scandals to ‘mirror sex’
SHE agreed to marry him just weeks after they started dating – when he proposed using a ring made from a paperclip. But now, four years on from their breakneck courtship, Emily Ratajkowski has split from husband Sebastian Bear-McClard amid claims that he is a serial cheat. The 31-year-old actress and model, who has topped […]
SHE agreed to marry him just weeks after they started dating – when he proposed using a ring made from a paperclip.
But now, four years on from their breakneck courtship, Emily Ratajkowski has split from husband Sebastian Bear-McClard amid claims that he is a serial cheat.
The 31-year-old actress and model, who has topped multiple charts of the world’s sexiest women, is said to be filing for divorce from the 34-year-old film director, who is alleged to have cheated on her several times.
Rumours started swirling when Emily, who gave birth to the couple’s son 16 months ago, was first spotted without her wedding ring last week.
A source who did not mince their words told US publication Page Six: “He cheated. He’s a serial cheater. It’s gross. He’s a dog.”
People magazine then cited a source close to the mum-of-one: “They split recently. It was Em’s decision. She is doing OK. She is strong and focused on her son.”
READ MORE ON EMILY RATAJKOWSKI
It’s a stormy end to a romance that was a whirlwind from the start.
Although they had been friends for a few years, they didn’t start dating until February 2018. Within weeks they got engaged, before getting married the very next day.
News of their surprise courthouse wedding on February 23 came just a month after Emily was revealed to have ended a three-year relationship with music producer Jeff Magid.
Recalling Sebastian’s unconventional proposal in a New York restaurant, she said: “He didn’t have a ring, so I was like, ‘Mmm, nah.’
Most read in The Sun
Vetted me
“Then he took the paperclip the restaurant bill was paid with and made me a ring, which I thought was really romantic.”
She joked she thought about it “for about 30 seconds” before saying yes.
They decided to wed immediately but under New York law they had to give a day’s notice. Emily said: “They don’t want you to do the Vegas thing, like you have to think about it for 24 hours.”
So they used the time to make their own rings, buying an ounce of gold in Chinatown before finding a jeweller who stayed open after hours to help them hammer and smelt it into wedding bands.
Emily said later: “They were supposed to be temporary rings, but now I’m very attached and I don’t want to get rid of it.
“I just feel like, after making it yourself, could it be more personal? I mean, really.”
For the ceremony Emily wore a mustard yellow suit from Zara and a wide-brimmed black hat, which she claimed was “all part of my plan to not be noticed”.
But Instagram snaps which she posted the next day made sure the low-key wedding got worldwide attention, and Emily later defended their decision to marry in haste.
She said: “We knew each other for a long time before and he likes to joke, ‘Yeah, everyone thinks we got married quickly, but you vetted me for two years’.”
But it seems some of the criticism stung. Emily — who found fame dancing topless in Robin Thicke’s 2013 Blurred Lines music video but declares she is a proud feminist — told Marie Claire: “No one can take women seriously on any choices that they make, especially if they’re unique to them and they don’t play into the way we think women should get married. It’s a constant writing-off.”
After a honeymoon in Utah, Sebastian replaced the paperclip with an engagement ring estimated to be worth £90,000 featuring a two-carat princess-cut diamond alongside a three-carat pear-shaped diamond.
And anyone who doubted the marriage would last a year was rewarded by PDA-packed Instagram posts and a topless snap of Emily showing off her rings on their first anniversary.
Dedicating the photo to her husband, the Gone Girl star wrote: “One year ago today, we headed down to city hall with some of our closest friends.
“What a year it’s been. Marrying you has been one of the greatest joys of my life.”
The couple adopted a puppy, Husky-German Shepherd cross, Colombo, in May 2019, and then welcomed their first child, Sylvester Apollo Bear, in March 2021.
Announcing her pregnancy in Vogue, Emily opened up about her unconventional approach to gender and parenting.
She said: “When my husband and I tell friends that I’m pregnant, their first question after ‘Congratulations’ is almost always ‘Do you know what you want?’
“We like to respond that we won’t know the gender until our child is 18 and that they’ll let us know then.”
She went on to say that she found pregnancy “innately lonely.”
She added: ““My husband likes to say that ‘we’re pregnant.’ I tell him that while the sentiment is sweet, it’s not entirely true.
“I resent that his entire family’s DNA is inside of me but that my DNA is not inside him…My husband has no physical symptoms in ‘our’ pregnancy, another reminder of how different a woman and man’s experience of life can be.”
Emily caused controversy by sharing photos to Instagram just eleven days after giving birth, which showed how her astonishing curves and washboard stomach were completely unchanged.
But despite her logic-defying beauty, in 2021 Emily wrote candidly in her bestselling essay collection My Body about struggling to accept her husband is attracted to other women.
She described how he made an offhand comment about how “there are so many beautiful women in the world” which triggered a bout of insecurity.
“Why do I suddenly feel as if he doesn’t love me enough?” she writes, recounting a “familiar twist in my gut.”
And she also shared details of their sex life – saying she likes to make love in front of a mirror.
She wrote: “I’m one with my body only during sex. When my husband and I f**k, I like to look in the mirror so I can see that I’m real.
“It helps me to return to myself, instead of floating above us, which happens from time to time.”
There have been rough patches too. Soon after their first anniversary McClard-Bear found himself mired in scandal, after it was revealed that he owed a New York landlord more than $100,000 (£83,000) in overdue rent.
Embarrassed, ashamed
But Emily stood by her man, defending him on Twitter against what she deemed “misinformation.”
She said: “’I’m proud he’s fighting the good fight against a real estate conglomerate that bought the building he lives in for $40 million and has continued to spread misinformation on its tenants in order to profit.
“NYC has changed so much and it’s a shame that people who work in creative fields are being moved out of the city.”
There was more controversy in June 2020, when Sebastian was accused of using the n-word “repeatedly” by Danielle Prescod, style director at African-American cable channel BET.
Prescod made the accusation in the comments section of Emily’s Instagram, after getting annoyed with the star’s professed support for Black Lives Matter.
She told Page Six: ‘I didn’t say it to shame [Ratajkowksi] or make it seem like she isn’t as committed as possible, but it is frustrating to see that she has access to millions of people and she is actually giving advice to people on how to actively approach ending racism.
“I think it is hypocritical if you are not taking responsibility for things you can control in your life and your home to protect the black community.”
Sebastian later apologised with a statement posted on Twitter, saying he was “embarrassed and ashamed” that he had “used a word casually like it was mine to use”, adding he had since “learned a lot about his privilege.’
As recently as June this year, Emily and Sebastian were seen cuddling up together on holiday in Italy.
But of late her Instagram has been devoid of photos of her husband, and she recently shared a nude selfie that showed both her hands and no wedding ring.
Read More on The Sun
Sebastian, who is best known for producing several films directed by the brothers Benny and Josh Safdie, including Good Time with Robert Pattinson and Adam Sandler’s critically acclaimed thriller Uncut Gems, was still wearing his gold wedding ring in New York on Wednesday.
Neither his nor Emily’s reps have commented on the split reports. But it seems the lines have become very blurred indeed.