January Jones Claps Back at Tabloid Over ‘Desperate’ Bikini Photos

January Jones hit back at the National Enquirer after she learned the tabloid was preparing to run a story about her friends thinking her popular Instagram bikini photos were “desperate.” The former Mad Men star has gained a huge following on Instagram during the coronavirus pandemic due to her bikini photos and other hilarious antics from home. Jones jokingly said the National Enquirer discovered her “secret.”

On Tuesday, Jones, 42, shared a screenshot of an email the tabloid sent to her representatives. The National Enquirer was “preparing to publish a story which reports January Jones has worried friends with her series of attention-grabbing bikini pictures and social media posts,” the email reads. “Sources claim her content smacks of a ‘desperate cry for attention’ and note how her acting work appears to have dried up before [the] pandemic took hold.” The email noted Jones only had a few hours to respond.

“S—. They’ve discovered my secret,” Jones added. “Consider this my public apology to my ‘friends.’” A few hours later, Jones shared another bikini photo, with her middle finger out for the tabloid. “Had to do it,” she wrote, adding the hashtag, “Desperate.”

After this, Jones went right back to doing hilarious things on her Instagram page. She later posted an hour-long video from her closet, where she played with an Emma Frost and Betty Draper toys, both characters she played. Then on Thursday, she shared a video taking her followers on her daily run outside her house.

Jones is best known for playing Betty Draper in Mad Men and Emma Frost in the X-Men movies. She recently starred in The Politician and Spinning Out, both for Netflix. However, the Last Man on Earth star’s Instagram page has earned her new fans and followers during the pandemic.

Even before she began playing with dolls on Instagram and making hilarious jokes, Jones brushed off what critics had to say about her. “I feel comfortable in my skin,” she told Shape in February. “Public opinion doesn’t matter to me. Yesterday I went to a birthday party with my son, and I wore humongous red sweatpants because I had my period. My sister said, ‘Are you actually wearing those out?’ I thought about it for a moment, but I still wore them. Who cares? They’re my period pants!”

Jones is mother to son Xander, 8. She has never publicly disclosed her son’s father, but she has been open to talking about balancing motherhood with the work she loves. “Some days obviously are easier than others, but I feel as if I’m able to do both fairly well,” she told Shape.