'Ugly' Eric Andre speaks out on story behind Emily Ratajkowski's X-rated Valentine's photo

Last month, Eric Andre won Valentine's Day, posting a nude snap of him and Emily Ratajkowski on Instagram - which made a lot of headlines.

Ratajkowski and her ex-husband Sebastian Bear-McClard broke up last year - one year on from having a baby together - and her relationship status has been the subject of intense media interest ever since.

It was rumoured for a few weeks that she was seeing comedian Andre... before their relationship was emphatically confirmed by the Valentine's Day snaps.

Instagram/Eric Andre

The photos show Andre lounging across a sofa in his birthday suit, glass of wine in hand, with naked photographer Ratajkowski in the mirror behind him.

Now, Andre has opened up about the story behind the 'iconic' snaps.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, the 39-year-old said: "Emily popped up and took that picture.

"I was really in the moment: I was drinking wine, she started dying laughing, and she was like, 'I have to take a picture of this.'

"She took the picture, we both started cracking up, and she was like, 'This is iconic' - she kept saying 'iconic'.

"We both agreed this was a beautiful image that we had to share with the world."

Andre duly posted the photos on Instagram where they amassed more than 640,000 likes.

"There wasn’t much thought behind it," he continued. "It was one of those things.

"And I think that’s what art is about. Art is not intellectual; it's primal. It has to speak to your hormones as much as it speaks to your mind.

"The beauty of that was the spontaneity. Spontaneity and capturing happy accidents are what art is all about."

Yep, that sure is one hell of a happy accident right there.

Instagram/Eric Andre

Broadly speaking, much of the reaction was shock, with people seeing Andre and the 31-year-old model as an unlikely pair.

Andre was asked about this reaction and described himself as 'ugly'; however, he pointed out that people often overlook the importance of humour.

He said: "How could this happen! No, man. I'm ugly. I looked like Steve Urkel for the first 20 years of my life.

"I think that people think attraction is only based on physical appearance, but beauty is only skin-deep.

"Colin [Jost] is married to Scarlett Johansson, and [John] Mulaney is married to Olivia Munn, so you'd think comedy... works."