An Italian former model says she regrets taking off her bikini top on a yacht with Princess Eugenie’s husband as pictures of their cruise were ‘misinterpreted’.
Jack Brooksbank was pictured on the boat in the Mediterranean with friends Erica Pelosini, Rachel Zalis, and Maria Buccellati.
Pictures which quickly circulated around social media show him next to a topless Erica, who said it was ‘very hurtful’ that people ‘jumped to the wrong conclusions’.
The stylist claims she wouldn’t have stripped off if she knew photographers were nearby.
Erica, 36, said she ‘felt bad’ seeing pictures of Jack surrounded by three glamorous women while his wife was at home in Windsor with their five-month old baby boy, named August.
She told MailOnline: ’I usually never go topless, but my bikini got wet and I decided to take it off. I know it does not look right for Jack and his family.
‘I’m very sorry if I caused any embarrassment to Princess Eugenie and Jack. It wasn’t appropriate for me to be topless.’
Jack, 35, spent the weekend on the island of Cpari for a star-studded charity ball.
Before the event he spent Friday afternoon aboard a classic 26ft ‘gozzo’ boat, exploring caves and grottos along the coast.
He and Erica were joined by model turned fashion ambassador Maria Buccellati and Rachel Zalis – former editor of Glamour magazine and Casamigos’s global director.
She says they were all there ‘as friends and work colleagues’ having a ‘wonderful afternoon in the Italian sun’.
Erica added that Jack was showing them pictures of his baby son and is a ‘very proud father’ who was sad to be away from his family.
After pictures of the outing were published in the media, she says she spoke to Jack about them at the airport as they flew home about how they could be ‘misinterpreted’.
She says Jack didn’t appear worried and said Eugenie trusts him enough to know that nothing improper was going on.
Erica, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, leading shoe designer Louis Leeman, hit back at her portrayal in the media as ‘some kind of bimbo’.
She added: ‘I’m not just a pretty face in a bikini hanging about on a speedboat. I’m a hard work who has established herself in the fashion world.’
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