In the past fifteen months, Kate Upton has melted YouTube, transformed her Twitter feed into a product-placement bonanza, sparked a series of censorship controversies, acted in a couple of movies, made her Saturday Night Live debut, and—this part's almost quaint—landed her first Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover. We will allow that we've enjoyed the show. Now, with a little help from 19-year-old Kate herself (and with a goal of helping aspiring imitators everywhere), we've boiled her playbook down to these Seven Habits of Highly Effective Internet Bombshells.
1. Turn on camera. Any camera. Shake body. Repeat.
It all started last April with "the Dougie," a spontaneous bit of jiggling at a Clippers game that found its way onto YouTube and pretty much launched the Kate Upton Phenomenon. She practiced for weeks in the mirror before her big moment, right? "No! That was my first Dougie," she insists. The "Cat Daddy," a twenty-second gyration performed in just a bikini, followed this spring (and was then temporarily yanked from the site for a “community
2. Never bury the lead.
Our interview gets going with a tame icebreaker of a question: What's the most exciting thing you've done since becoming massively famous? Kate's immediate response: "For the GQ photo shoot, we were on that ride where the seat spins while the actual ride is spinning, and I'm wearing a one-piece. And all of a sudden the whole entire top falls off! I'm holding myself, laughing, turning bright red, but a lot of people are watching, so they kicked us out of the Santa Monica Pier—it was so embarrassing." Pause, then the kicker: "You wouldn't think that would happen with a one-piece!”
3. Create faux controversies...
Being a bombshell means constantly eyeing the line between good, innocent fun and too-hot-to-handle—and then occasionally crossing it. (Who, me?) A Carl's Jr. ad in which Kate experiences carnal levels of pleasure while eating a sandwich caused an outcry; an early cut of a Zoo York commercial featuring her running in a sports bra was too much even for MTV. And her costume in the trailer for the Farrelly brothers' The Three Stooges—a white coif, some rosary beads, and a wispy black "nun-kini"—was racy enough to provoke the ire of the Catholic League. "I can see why the Catholic Church would be upset with me," she says. "But it was just for fun, and I try not to take it more seriously than that.”
4. ...including making headlines about flirting with both Jets quarterbacks.
Mark Sanchez: Spotted bearing gifts at Kate's apartment. Tim Tebow: Caught chatting up Kate at an Oscar party. Kate's sole comment on the looming quarterback controversy: "I'm going to be less emotionally involved this year.”
5. Use natural talents to dominate the marketing universe.
Having 370,000 Twitter followers (safe to say: mostly men) makes Kate America's Premier Spokesperson for Dude-Friendly Products. A quick stroll through her Twitter stream has her playing Ping-Pong with Jason Pierre-Paul (on behalf of AXE body spray), hanging with James Harden and Kevin Durant (to promote Skullcandy headphones), and joking around with Justin Verlander (for the gaming company 2K Sports). "I grew up in Florida riding horses, so for the majority of my life I was either in boots and jeans or a bathing suit," she says. "I understand why my male followers like me.”
6. Emphasize your wholesome background...
Savvy bombshells know how to combine sexiness and naïveté in a way that somehow makes ogling them seem like the most innocent thing in the world. To get it right, you need a certain backstory, and Kate couldn't have a better one. Good girl? She grew up in a traditional, all-American family: Dad's a high school athletic director; mom stayed home with the kids. And though Kate grew up in Florida, she was born in the deeply conservative southwest corner of Michigan, where her uncle, Fred Upton, has been a Republican congressman for twenty years. God-fearing? Kate has two tattoos: a horseshoe on her wrist and a small cross on the inside of her finger. "You have to think hard with a tattoo," she says. "What will I love for the rest of my life?" Horses and Jesus seem like safe bets.
"It's like any job," she says. "You find your strengths and play them up.”
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