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When Celebs Like Amber Rose Post Nearly Nudes of Themselves on the Web, At What Point Does Sexual Empowerment Become Self Exploitation?
Amber Rose wrote the book on it. No, seriously: Kanye’s infamous ex, Wiz Khalifa’s baby mama, America’s toughest bald babe since Sigourney Weaver in Alien 3, is about to publish a book of life lessons called How to Be a Bad Bitch. Like Amber herself, it’s all heart. Unlike Amber, it’s not that thick! The teen stripper turned megalomaniac muse spoke to Carrie Battan about her beautiful dark twisted journey to the top
Every week, Amber Rose teaches her two-year-old son a new word. This week’s word is technically not a word at all (TMZ will point this out after she’s uploaded a video of her lesson to Instagram) but it comes in handy as we try to explain to him why I am here on a Sunday afternoon—a complete stranger lounging in the palatial master bedroom of Mommy’s house in the Hollywood Hills. Both Nas and French Montana used to live here, Rose says. She still gets their mail.
It’s a sweet scene—as innocuous and adorable as parenting gets. But it also conjures, somewhat awkwardly, the very thing Rose has been trying for years to escape: her past with one particularly famous and influential man. (Hint: It’s not Khalifa.) There is no way to watch Amber Rose’s head being licked, even by her toddler son, without recalling the iconic Terry Richardson photo of Kanye West doing the same. Rose is so sick of talking about West—my ex, she calls him, never using his name—but right now she doesn’t have to say a word for his ghost to appear.
That photo, published five years ago, captured Rose and West at the zenith of their crazy infatuation, looking sexier and more in love than anyone has looked, maybe ever, their pheromonal forces eradicating any inhibition. The head-licking photo is this generation’s version of naked John nuzzling Yoko on the cover of Rolling Stone. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend blocking out some time before you Google it, because you will lose the next hour down a rabbit hole of Kanye-Amber image searching. One day, a decade or so from now, Sebastian will happen upon the head-licking photo and be really spooked by it.


















