(Reuters) – Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas has raised $150,000 for men’s health charity Movember after a ‘Bottass 2024’ calendar featuring photographs of him baring his backside sped off the shelves.
An initial run of 10,000, with five euros ($5.46) from each going to prostate cancer research, swiftly sold out with more printed.
“Thank you so much for all the support in November. With the donations and with the calendars we have together raised a substantial amount for @Movember,” Bottas announced via social media on Thursday.
“Final figures to be calculated in the next days, but we are talking around $150k of funds raised!”
The Alfa Romeo driver had the calendar idea with photographer Paul Ripke after his partner and Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell took a picture of Bottas lying naked in a stream in Aspen, Colorado.
That shot proved a hit on Instagram and was sold for charity.
“I have had questions, people asking me ‘Why did you do that? Why do you want to show your ass?’,” Bottas told speedcafe.com at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this month.
“But then when I explained the charity aspect, people got it, and we had so much fun, as you can imagine, taking those pictures.”
Bottas said his mother had some initial reservations, however.
“She doesn’t really understand English that well, and she had seen some videos I had posted. She was quite confused and protective, asking me ‘Are you sure that’s the path you want to go?’. So I explained the charity thing, and it’s fine.”
($1 = 0.9160 euros)
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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