Long before DC co-CEO James Gunn brought live-action TV projects to HBO (and streaming with a HBO Max subscription), the WB gave us the Superman prequel series Smallville. All these years later, actor Tom Welling remains synonymous with his role as Clark Kent, although he made headlines this weekend for a much more surprising reason. Namely by accidentally exposing himself via his Instagram Stories. Funnily enough, this happened the same weekend he shared a viral story went involving fake nudes.
While celebrity nude scenes are sometimes part of the Hollywood landscape, sometimes actors' personal photos are accidentally leaked, or in this case, leaked by themselves. For Welling, he seemingly has no one to blame but himself for a pic circulation online. And I can't get over the timing.
The Real Nude Photo Story
This past weekend was New York Comic Con, and plenty of superhero actors appeared for panel appearances and/or signing booths. Tom Welling traveled to New York for the occasion, and posted a photo on IG Story featuring the view (presumably from his hotel), with the caption "Hello NYCC." Unfortunately, it was his nude reflection that actually got fans' attention, quickly going viral in the process.
Folks noticed upon closer inspection that Welling's naked body could be seen from the window's reflection. That included what appeared to be a glimpse of his genitals.
Given what a heartthrob he's been since Smallville (which is streaming with a Hulu subscription), the image quickly went viral. It reportedly stayed up on his Instagram for 10 hours before being the powers that be caught on and it taken down. At the time I was writing this story, the 49 year-old actor has yet to release an official statement/response about the situation.
The incident is funny, and funnier given the context of his other story.
The Fake Nude Story
During his appearance at New York Comic Con over the weekend, the Cheaper by the Dozen actor recalled one time he saw a fake nude of himself. Not only that, he saw them when his Smallville co-star John Glover jokingly brought in the image, which he signed. He recalled this with NYCC guests (via EW), saying:
John came into my makeup trailer one time with a big smile on his face. And he goes, ‘I’m so happy to see you.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ He’s like, ‘I have a picture I’d like you to sign.’ And it was a picture from the internet that somebody had made of me completely naked.
Talk about a bizarre experience. Despite Welling knowing that it wasn't real, he was somehow looking at a nude photo of himself. What's more, it was coming to him from his coworker. Luckily he had a good sense of humor about it, as he went on to say:
He thought it was so cute. He’s like, ‘Is this really you?’ I’m like, ‘Yep.’ And I signed it for him.
Rather than being mad at these phony images, it sounds like the Smallville icon was able to laugh about them. I have to wonder if this sense of humor was helpful over the weekend when his seemingly naked reflection went viral online. On paper this seem like a nightmare situation for any public figure, but given his previous experience with fake nudes, hopefully he laughed the incident off.
As previously mentioned, Tom Welling's tenure on Smallville is streaming now on Hulu. The actor has stayed busy with acting projects in recent years, the most recent being Chasing Summer, which had its premiere at Sundance as part of the 2026 movie release list. We'll just have to see if/when it gets a wide theatrical release.
