Nobody knew why, nobody knew how - but everyone presumed it was just some weird fantasy the multi-gazillionaire wanted to live out. Many kitesurfers didn't even know Branson could kitesurf, let alone do it with a 60kg naked lady clinging to his neck.

Some cried fake, they screamed photoshop and image manipulation, but the photo was simply too realistic, and now - it's finally been explained (and proved) by Richard Branson himself in an interview on his life with the UK's Telegraph. Here's what he had to say:

Sometimes we’ll go off island for the rest of the day. About 18 miles away there’s a lovely island called Anagarda and we kitesurf over there. I learnt to kitesurf about eight years ago when the sport was still slightly hairy because they hadn’t designed kites that were easy to control. Once, a delightful photographer turned up on the island with an even more delightful girlfriend and asked if I would take her kitesurfing on my back. I said I would, and then he asked if I minded if she didn’t have any clothes on. Silly question.

Fortunately I haven’t had any major accidents and nowadays kitesurfing is much safer. I think people exaggerate about how difficult it is; you can learn to do it in five hours.

Hmmmm. Seems just a little bit weird, and it's not even his girlfriend! But hey - the man's a billionaire, believe him!

Check out some more images in the Seabreeze gallery

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