Travis Fimmel’s Calvin Klein Ads Weren’t ‘Enhanced’ According to Sharon Osbourne

When actor and former model Travis Fimmel debuted on billboards for Calvin Klein, the images made a fan out of many observers, including Sharon Osbourne. And while some people might have wondered if any parts were virtually enhanced to look more prominent for those advertisements, Osbourne went on the record to let fans know — without telling how she knew — “What you see is what you get.”

(L-R) Sharon Osbourne and Travis Fimmel | Barry King/WireImage

Sharon Osbourne met Travis Fimmel in his Calvin Klein era

When Fimmel was still new to Los Angeles from Australia, before his time as Ragnar Lothbrok on Vikings, he rented a home that happened to belong to Osbourne’s daughter, Aimee.

As Fimmel recalled on The Sharon Osbourne Show in 2003, he’d been partying with friends in those days. So, “the place had got a bit rough.”

Soon enough, he heard his landlord’s mother was coming over. So he and his houseguests cleaned up in a “panic.”

But lucky for him, Osbourne approved of the scene when she arrived. And it sounds like he didn’t need to do very much to impress her. “Everywhere I looked, there were backpacks and lovely young men … I think I got into bed with one of your friends,” she said to him.

And Fimmel recalled being “flashed” by Osbourne himself, to which she replied, “I didn’t flash you, did I?” But she later fessed up. “I did,” she confessed, “because I’m very shy.”

Sharon Osbourne knew Travis Fimmel ‘very well’ in his Calvin Klein days

Calvin Klein Underwear Celebrates 30 Years: Travis Fimmel in the ’01 Calvin Klein Body campaign, shot by Steven Klein: http://t.co/tZN6GZ9z

— calvinklein (@CalvinKlein) October 10, 2012

As Osbourne recalled during their chat on her show, she asked Fimmel when they met if the Calvin Klein images of him in nothing but his tighty-whities had been “computer-enhanced” or not. While he hesitated to respond to the question, possibly because he was in front of an audience, his host happily answered the query herself.

“Mrs. O knows,” she stated, “because I know Travis very well. And I know that’s all real. What you see in that ad is what you get.” Though it’s not clear what kind of research she did to obtain that bit of inside information, the audience seemed pleased enough to accept her word for it.

Fimmel, for his part, seemed slightly uncomfortable for the moment. And that could have been because he thought his modeling stint was an “embarrassing” way to move forward in his life and career.

Becoming a Calvin Klein icon was just a ‘thing’ Travis Fimmel did for money

Travis Fimmel | Paul Harris/Getty Images

Now that Fimmel has successfully transitioned into acting and scored major parts in popular shows like HBO Max’s Raised by Wolves, he seems to want to leave his Calvin Klein modeling past far behind. He told GQ it was just a way to get what he needed in life.

“I just did that modeling thing to get a visa over here,” he said, “It’s really embarrassing, mate, but what am I gonna do — not get a visa and make money?”

Fimmel did eventually do some more modeling work, though. He fronted a Canada Goose campaign in 2016, fully clothed.