# Why is David Duchovny naked except for a teapot? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596 "2002-10-30T21:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/1 "2002-10-30T21:51:08Z")
I was using Google image search to try and find pics for an upcoming webcomic called Errant Story when [this picture](http://www.canoe.ca/TVImagesXYZ/xfiles_duchovny_160.jpg) popped up. Can someone please explain what is going on? Is this photoshopped? It was attached to what seemed like a legit news article, but it had no explanation for the photo. Was this from some episode that I missed? And why the hell is he wearing a little teapot? Why not a cup, or some other object? This is a serious question, where and why is this photo? ---
**Author:** ![Soca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Soca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soca)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/2 "2002-10-30T22:42:43Z")
I saw a movie about 6 years ago that a friend of mine said he got from a girl at school that got it from another friend that got it from…, well, you know the story, anyway, he told me it was footage of Duchovny that hadn’t made for the public. I remember the teacup scene, it was very quick if I remember correctly and I don’t think it was made for anything in particular, it looked like he was just messing around. The tape didn’t have a lable so I don’t know what the name of it was, if it had one. I know that doesn’t help much but that’s all I know about it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/3 "2002-10-30T22:56:18Z")
Why couldn’t it have been Tea Leoni posing naked with a davidpot instead? ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/4 "2002-10-30T23:30:47Z")
I heard he was messing around on a movie set and the photographer snapped the pix. They were never meant to be public but did end up in _The Enquirer_ and other rags. And it’s a teacup, not a teapot. Not many men are secure enough in their masculinity to show the world that they can fit their genitalia in a teacup. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/5 "2002-10-30T23:30:48Z")
I read an interview with Duchovny where he was asked about the pictures. He said he was at his manager’s house doing a photo shoot and was just goofing around between changes of clothes. He said someone later absconded with the pictures and sold them. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/6 "2002-10-31T00:43:12Z")
Looks like dwyr is mostly correct: [http://duchovny.net/articles/stern5\_98.htm](http://duchovny.net/articles/stern5_98.htm) DD: I will tell you the truth. Right before…we had done the X Files pilot…we were about to go do the series in Vancouver, we did a little photo shoot in case we needed pictures of me. I was in my manager’s house and she’s English so, therefore, she has a lot of teacups, and I was just goofing around, I was changing and she had a cigar and the teacups and I just put the teacup over my… […] DD: It’s kind of a sad story. A man who was working as my publicist at the time - who I won’t name and who actually did a lot of work for free for me when I couldn’t afford it - I guess got payment in this way by turning around and selling this picture years later…and it’s not that harmful, I mean, it’s kind of a goofy picture… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/7 "2002-10-31T00:44:44Z")
From an interview in _The Daily Telegraph_, August 4, 1998 : > [@](#): > > Didn’t he once pose nude - save for a strategically placed inverted teacup (a shot that is much accessed on the Internet)? He raises both hands, palms outwards, in a gesture that happily acknowledges defeat. "But the idea for that particular shot was mine. It wasn’t as if somebody said: ‘There’s the Armani. There’s the Versace. There’s the teacup’. “My manager is English. She has a Téa service; there was a cigar nearby; inspiration hit. I was changing and I suddenly grabbed a teacup. I thought it would be funny if I were holding the cigar with a cup over my genitals and pretending to pour tea. For some reason, it just struck me as goofy.” Somebody recently asked him about his wife’s opinion of that picture. “First,” he said, “I think she thought it was funny. Second, I think she thought I was an idiot for doing it. And finally, she’s vowed never to drink out of that cup.” The photograph, taken some years ago, found its way into the public arena after Duchovny landed the role of Mulder. “One of the things they pay you for is the loss of privacy that comes with fame.” [http://duchovny.net/articles/telegraph.htm](http://duchovny.net/articles/telegraph.htm) ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/8 "2002-10-31T03:35:38Z")
Thanks so much for that link! That is the most sexy nekkid photo of a man I’ve seen, precisely because it is so goofyand sweet; no serious macho posturing, and his bits covered by a teacup makes ya want to smile just about long enough to jump him. Yikes! My admiration of David Duchovny has just been upped quite a few notches. Neither he nor Tea has anything to be ashamed of. It’s a strong, sweet, funny photo. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-david-duchovny-naked-except-for-a-teapot/134596/9 "2002-10-31T03:39:52Z")
Wow, thanks for the info. And I am amazed that no one has made any “short and stout” jokes yet.