The director of the music video for the hit Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke song Blurred Lines has died at the age of 63.
Diane Martel, who also worked with stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus, died following a breast cancer diagnosis.
Her family said she died surrounded by her loved ones at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York on Thursday.
‘Diane passed away peacefully at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital – surrounded by friends and family – after a long battle with breast cancer,’ her family said in a statement.
‘She is survived by her Aunt, Gail Merrifield Papp (wife of Joseph Papp, founder of The Public Theatre), her three beloved, loyal cats (Poki, PopPop, PomPom) and many loving lifetime friends,’ the statement to Rolling Stone read.
A born and bred New Yorker, Martel earned a trailblazing reputation in the music industry, known for her striking visuals and provocative videos.
![11933461 Emily Ratajkowski's Blurred Lines co-star Elle Evans recalls moment model was groped by Robin Thicke - as she opens up about her appearance in controversial video: 'I used my looks to make money, that was the only option I had' . The unrated video, which shows Evans snuggling a baby goat and riding a plush dog in nothing but a thong, was originally intended to satirize a red-blooded Terry Richardson-esque shoot. ?I wanted to deal with the misogynist, funny lyrics in a way where the girls were going to overpower the men,? Martel told Grantland at the time. ?It also forces the men to feel playful and not at all like predators... I don?t think the video is sexist.? In a since-deleted VH1 interview, Thicke put it this way: "We pretty much wanted to take all the taboos of what you're not supposed to do ? bestiality, you know, injecting a girl in her bum with a five-foot syringe ? I just wanted to break every rule of things you?re not supposed to do and make people realize how silly some of these rules are." The idea made sense to Evans, who says director Diane Martel told the models to dial down the sex appeal. "I remember Diane shouting, like, 'That's too sexy. Don't be too sexy. This is not the club, you know. This is not a lap dance.' There's parts where I'm sitting on the stool and T.I. is brushing my hair. [Diane] wanted me just kind of chilling, just kind of a little bit of a shimmy shake," she says. "I felt like I was in the power position, even among all these superstar recording artists. It was a really great feeling." (Martel declined Bustle's request for an interview.)](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SEI_150765062-89a9.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
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