Celebrities like Demi Moore, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts are some of the few stars who’ve worn swimwear bracing themselves from social media’s criticism. Luckily, they’ve not only received mean responses but also some supportive opinions that paint them in a good light.

Taylor Hackford and Dame Helen Mirren at the 7th Directors Guild of America Honors after-party on October 16, 2008, in New York City | Source: Getty Images

People like Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Goldie Hawn, Eva Longoria, Susan Lucci, and Demi Moore, have faced social media’s wrath for daring to wear their swimwear in public. Pictures of the stars dressed for the beach had netizens divided in their opinions.

Helen Mirren’s Bikini Shot Was Taken by the Paparazzi

Dame Helen Mirren went on the record to multiple outlets to explain the photo of her posing in a red bikini with a white trim that went viral in 2008. That year, Mirren and her husband, Taylor Hackford, were on vacation on an Italian beach.

Dame Helen Mirren and her husband Taylor Hackford at the 79th Annual Academy Awards on February 25, 2007, in Hollywood, California | Source: Getty Images

The star said she and her director husband braved brought terrains going over cacti just to get to a swimming spot where nobody else was around, just the way Hackford liked it. The actress initially took a photo of her husband and, in turn, struck a pose for him. However, the moment she sucked her stomach in, she saw a flash in the distant hills and immediately dropped down “spread-eagle” on the rocks to get out of the shot of a perceived paparazzo!

When Hackford turned around, the photographer had hidden behind the cacti, leading the director to call his wife “paranoid.” Three days later, a photo of a 63-year-old Mirren looking into the distance hand held over her brow in a red bikini, was uploaded by a tabloid and went viral!

Helen Mirren at the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony and red carpet for the film “Jeanne du Barry,” in Cannes, France, on May 16, 2023 | Source: Getty Images

Speaking about the incident a few years later on season seven of “Ellen,” the dame said the shot was “pure luck.” She shared, “I look at that picture and say, God, I wish I look like that. But I don’t.”