In a society where perfection is sought after and social media filters run rampant, the manipulation of photographs continues to take new heights. And a selection of Hollywood’s A-list are having none of it.
Over the years, celebrities have begun to call out outlets and photographers for setting unrealistic beauty standards by retouching their bodies and leaving out stretch marks, cellulite and moles—all of which women have.
From Priyanka Chopra to Kate Winslet, many stars have clapped back at the prevalence of digitally altered photos and to advocate for body positivity.
Below, we’ve rounded up the best times celebrities have called out image retouching in the most inspiring, refreshing, and body-positive ways.
Tracee Ellis Ross
Tracee Ellis Ross took to Instagram after a viral photo of her from 2015 began circulating online on September 28. The image in question featured Ross wearing an all-black, mock neck latex bodysuit, that fans praised her for. However, Ross quickly took to Instagram to clarify that the photo had been altered.
The actress shared a side-by-side photo of the original snap alongside the edited image to compare “the original—my actual booty” versus “someone’s photoshopped version.” Ross added to the discussion over her altered pic, saying, “…looks like someone tried to round me up to the nearest dollar”.
Jameela Jamil
In early March 2019, Jameela Jamil called airbrushing “the devil” after she saw an edited photo of herself circulate online. “I don’t look like this,” the actress wrote about the picture. “They airbrushed me to death.”
“It made me so mentally unwell trying to live up to this image in person,” Jamil captioned the post. According to The Good Place star, her arms were digitally slimmed down, her skin was lightened, and her knees, ankles, and breasts were all airbrushed in the picture.
Emily Ratajkowski
In September 2017, model Emily Ratajkowski called out a French magazine for editing her lips and breasts to appear smaller. “I was extremely disappointed to see my lips and breasts altered […] on this cover,” Ratajkowski wrote in an Instagram post.
“Everyone is uniquely beautiful in their own ways,” she wrote. “We all have insecurities about the things that make us different from a typical ideal of beauty. I, like so many of us, try every day to work past those insecurities… I hope the fashion industry will finally learn to stop trying to stifle the things that make us unique and instead begin to celebrate individuality.”
Zendaya
Back in 2015, Zendaya expressed her disapproval when she saw an edited photo of herself on a magazine cover. The Euphoria actress posted a before-and-after comparison of the photo on Instagram and thanked the magazine involved for taking down the retouched image.
Only 19 years old at the time, Zendaya admitted that she “was shocked” when she realised that her hips and torso had been “quite manipulated” and slimmed down.
Kerry Washington
In an April 2016 cover of Adweek magazine, Washington revealed that she could barely recognise herself due to the intense editing. Speaking of the retouching in an Instagram post, Washington revealed how she felt “excited and thrilled” when she was first asked to be on the cover but was ultimately “taken aback” when she saw the cover.
She explained that while she was “no stranger” to photo-editing software, saying that “it felt strange to look at a picture of [herself]” that was “so different” than what she saw in the mirror. “It’s an unfortunate feeling,” Washington said.
She added: “In a way, we have become a society of picture adjusters—who doesn’t love a filter?!? And I don’t always take these adjustments to task, but I have had the opportunity to address the impact of my altered image in the past and I think it’s a valuable conversation.”
Priyanka Chopra
After Priyanka Chopra posed on the cover of Maxim in 2016, her missing armpit went viral on social media. When people saw Chopra’s Maxim cover, they made note that her armpit “looked [edited] out of existence.”
The actress later made light about the incident on Twitter. Posting a photo on the site, with herself posed with both her arms raised, Chopra wrote: “Here’s another ‘pit-stopping’ picture to add to the debate. #WillTheRealArmpitPleaseStandUp #nofilter #armpitdiaries.”
Kim Kardashian West
In April 2017, Kim Kardashian West shared a body-positive message in response to a series of paparazzi shots of her on vacation. At first, she slammed the body-shamers on Twitter, saying: “Oh and as for me you ask?… I’m just sitting here on the beach with my flawless body,” she said.
However, in an interview on The View in June, she insisted that the paparazzi shots had been edited to make her look “way worse.”
“I saw these awful photos of myself when I was on a trip in Mexico and people were [editing] them and sharpening them,” Kardashian West said on the show. After seeing the photos, the beauty mogul, who “hadn’t worked out in about twelve weeks,” started training with a bodybuilder and “totally changed” her diet.
Meghan Trainor
In 2016, Meghan Trainor took down her music video for her song “Me Too” from YouTube, after her waist was digitally slimmed down without her consent.
According to Trainer, when she first saw the altered images, she immediately texted the video’s editors, saying “I never asked you to touch my waist. I want my waist back.”
Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes
In March 2018, Riverdale star Lili Reinhart accused a magazine of editing photos of her and her costar, Camila Mendes. In a series of posts on her Instagram Stories, Reinhart also shared a photo of her body from the magazine—which she said was not digitally altered—to drive her point home.
“Camila and I worked incredibly hard to feel confident in the bodies we have,” Reinhart wrote. “It’s an everyday battle, sometimes. And to see our bodies become so distorted in an editing process is a perfect example of the obstacles we have yet to overcome.”
Mendes later commented on the incident in her own Instagram story, saying: “We want readers to know that those bodies are not ours,” the actress wrote.
She continued: “They have been distorted from their natural beauty. […] I’m not interested in having a slimmer waist, I’m more than satisfied with the one that I already have.”
Kate Winslet
Setting the record straight, Kate Winslet opened up about her controversial cover of a magazine, after she noticed that her legs had been slimmed down.
In response to the cover, the actress told Hello! magazine: “The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that and more importantly, I don’t desire to look like that. I actually have a Polaroid that the photographer gave me on the day of the shoot […] I can tell you they’ve reduced the size of my legs by about a third. For my money, it looks pretty good the way it was taken.”
Rumer Willis
In 2016, Rumer Willis called out clear retouching that was done on her face on a major magazine spread. As per E! News, she posted the image in question on Instagram, with the caption: “The photographer photoshopped my face to make my jaw smaller and I find it really offensive for anyone to try and change the way you look so drastically.”
She continued: “I love the way I look and I won’t support anyone who would feel a need to change the way I look to make me beautiful. Whether or not they realise it, it is a form of bullying, which I won’t stand for.”
Hear, hear!
