Alison Brie’s newest project, the Prime video film Somebody I Used to Know, is getting the GLOW actor a lot of exposure lately — in more ways than one. Brie, who plays Ally, a Hollywood showrunner who returns home after losing her job, appears in several scenes of non-sexual nudity, including an extensive streaking scene, as well as a segment about Ally’s dreams to produce a show on nudism. Brie seems so comfortable in her own skin — literally — that some are wondering whether or not the actor, who co-wrote the script along with her husband, director Dave Franco, dabbles in naturism in her personal life.
As it turns out, not only is Brie really just that comfortable being in the buff, she does have a history of public nudity dating back to her college days as a student at Cal Arts. At the time, the private art university had a clothing-optional policy (except for in the cafeteria) that Brie took full advantage of during her undergrad years. “Every now and then I would just throw on my tennies and take a jaunt… not all the time, just once in a while, to exercise my right!” she told Conan O’Brien in 2012.
Brie would also take advantage of the lax attitude toward bare skin to cheer up her roommate at the time. “If my roommate was having a bad day and I wanted to make her laugh to feel better, I would sort of pretend like I was going to go take a shower but then I would sneak outside and hang from the tree outside our window. Like a monkey. Like a naked monkey.”
In a recent appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show brie described herself as “a bit of a nudist” and admitted that she had streaked “as recent as last year.” Presumably, that doesn’t include her recent streaking post on Instagram done during Somebody’s press tour.
So while Brie doesn’t appear to be a practicing nudist per se, the comfort with her body that shines through in her naked performances in Somebody I Used to Know and GLOW is absolutely not an act. In 2017 she told Playboy that “the hardest part [about nude scenes] is the transition from being in your robe to being naked on set. Once I was naked, it kind of reminded me of my nudist days from college and that feeling of, ‘Oh yeah, I love my body and this is fun and silly and it’s fine.'”
Somebody I Used to Know is currently streaming on Prime Video.
