Orlando Bloom would probably rather discuss anything else than the nude paddle boarding photos of him that were published in 2016. But, when the actor appeared on BBC Radio 1 to promote Unlocked Wednesday, host Nick Grimshaw couldn't help but ask about the pictures.
"Could you take off all your clothes while sort of subtly covering your bits to camera?" Grimshaw asked. "I feel like actors are good at that, just being naked—" Bloom laughed and interjected, "Not too naked! I'm not really worried about getting my bits and gobs out. It's fine."
"We know!" Grimshaw said. "Can we talk about that? What the hell? We've got to talk about it." Bloom, clearly uncomfortable, replied, "It's been talked about so much. I'm over it already."
To his dismay, Grimshaw wouldn't let it go. "Can I just tell you something? We won't talk about it, but when you type Orlando Bloom into Google, first comes acting—because you're great at acting. Second thing down: paddle boarding," the host told Bloom. "That is No. 2 in the world."
"Great, man," the actor said. "Fantastic."
"Is that just going to be there forever?" Grimshaw wondered.
"I don't know. Is it?" Bloom asked. "My poor son—he's got a lot to live up to." Grimshaw told Bloom it was a "big, global news" story when the photos came out. "We nearly shut down Radio 1 when we saw those pictures." The actor laughed and told him, "I broke the internet!"
Grimshaw didn't mean to make Bloom uneasy. In fact, he confessed, "If my body looked like yours, I wouldn't be dressed now!" Bloom pretended to remove his jacket, saying, "I'll take my clothes off! That's it!" The host encouraged him, joking, "Get 'em off, Orlando! You look great."
Understandably, it's not a subject the actor wants to dissect forever.
Bloom previously told ELLE U.K. he was "extremely" surprised to learn that he had been photographed in the buff while on vacation Katy Perry. "I wouldn't have put myself in that position if I'd thought it would happen," I've been photographed a million times in a million different ways. I have a good radar. We'd been completely alone for five days—nothing around us. There was no way anyone could get anything," he recalled. "I had a moment of feeling free."
"What can I tell you?" Bloom said. "Note to self: You're never free. Ha!"