23 Times Photo Editors Went Overboard And Got Called Out By Celebs

    "Remember that flaws are ok." — Lorde

    Rhianna Campbell
    by Rhianna Campbell

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Everyone loves a flattering photo filter, but too often celebs are digitally enhanced beyond recognition.

    red carpet
    Yuliya Shavyra / Getty Images/iStockphoto

    Luckily, there's an increasing number of celebs being upfront about photo editing, and even taking a stand against it.

    1. Lupita Nyong'o

    Lupita wears a gold sequinned long sleeved dress. She is side on, looking back over her shoulder and smiling. She wears a deep red lipstick and her hair is in an intricate braided up do.
    Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

    Award-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o was not happy with Grazia's editing of her cover photo. Being a long-time advocate for natural hair, she was quick to call out the magazine when they smoothed her kinks and curls.

    In a now-deleted Instagram post, Nyong'o wrote: "Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are.

    "I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like. Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style, and texture." 

    She ended her caption with the hashtags #donttouchmyhair and #dtmh.

    2. Solange Knowles

    3. Beyoncé

    Beyonce wears a black latex off the shoulder V-neck dress with long sleeves. She is smiling mid-speech as she accepts an award. Her dark blonde hair is full and wavy, falling to her shoulders.
    Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    The Knowles sisters won't stay quiet when they spot something they don't agree with.

    When working with H&M, singer Beyoncé caught wind that the high-street fashion brand had edited her silhouette to make her slimmer in the beachwear collection she was modeling. An unimpressed Bey insisted that the original photos be used, and her team refused to approve the edited shots, forcing H&M to use the originals or nothing at all.

    A spokesperson for H&M later confirmed that there had been discussions around the editing of Beyoncé 's photos, but the final images used were not retouched.

    4. Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes

    Camila Mendes in an orange sleeveless dress with black straps forming a V shape from shoulder to waist. Her dark hair is down and she smiles with her arm around Lili Reinhart, who wears her hair down and a white chiffon-like dress with balloon sleeves.
    Gabriel Olsen / FilmMagic

    Riverdale actors Lili and Camila have long been outspoken about body image and being real with their fans, so they were quick off the mark when it came to calling out Cosmopolitan's Philippines edition for editing their waist size.

    In a series of Instagram stories, Lili shared the original image minus the manipulation of her waist, saying: "Camila and I worked incredibly hard to feel confident in the bodies we have. 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 also commented on her own Instagram story, saying: "We want readers to know that those bodies are not ours. 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." 

    5. Florence Pugh

    Florence looking over her shoulder and smiling, her short blonde hair wavy. She wears an off-shoulder chiffon black and white dress.
    Elisabetta A. Villa / Getty Images

    Actor Florence Pugh is known for being outspoken, so when her phone automatically "corrected" her face, she took to Instagram stories to talk about how messed up she thought it was.

    She told fans: "It was really fucked up that my phone automatically decided to make me the way that it wanted me to look. I think filters are a really cool thing to have, and I’m completely aware that people don’t necessarily want their ‘imperfections’ and ‘flaws’ out there, and that’s totally fine — I myself have even been known to use a few filters.

    "But that should be your choice, and that should be your decision. And this phone here should not automatically decipher what it’s been programmed to believe is beautiful. 

    "I read a couple of messages, and some of you were saying that even your freckles have been blurred out. And that’s really sad, and it is scary. Be aware that this is only adding to this circle of insecurity, and I hope that talking about it helps."

    6. Cindy Crawford

    Cindy with her arms crossed, smiling as she wears a black v-neck dress with sheer mesh pinstripes. Her caramel-highlighted brown hair is waving and falls to her shoulders.
    Miikka Skaffari / Getty Images

    World-famous supermodel Cindy Crawford once uttered the line: "I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford." 

    She said in her 2015 book Becoming: "Sometimes, I forget that the images I am used to seeing of myself aren't real, that they are all part of the illusion of being Cindy Crawford. And then, I will catch a glimpse of the real, un-retouched Cindy or see an unflattering paparazzi shot, and it's a shocker.  

    "I wish I could say it is easy for me to be getting older. Men might mourn the loss of strength and stamina, while women tend to be more concerned about what they see in the mirror. Gray hair, fine lines, and the realization that none of us can defy those pesky laws of gravity. Having been a model now for over 30 years and dependent on my looks for my work, seeing those changes might even be a little harder for me. At times, the pressure to live up to the fashion industry's expectations feels overwhelming. ​

    "The most meaningful way I've found to cope with these inevitable changes is to live in the present moment, continue to evolve, and to feel enormous gratitude for all that I do have: a happy marriage, a relationship with my kids that fills me with pride, and work that continues to inspire me."

    7. Kerry Washington

    Kerry wears her hair back and poses with one hand on her hip, one beneath her chin. She wears a very pale pink bodycon sleeveless dress with a V neck, and it is covered in mirrored squared and circular sequins. She smiles slightly.
    Emma Mcintyre / Getty Images,

    Actor Kerry Washington was "taken aback" by her cover of AdWeek magazine. She took to Instagram to hash out her feelings, thanking AdWeek for the "honor" and "privilege" of putting her on their cover, before saying: "Look, I'm no stranger to Photoshopping. It happens a lot. 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.

    "Yesterday, however, I just felt weary. It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror. It's an unfortunate feeling." She finished up by thanking fans for "being patient with (her) while (she) figured out how to post this in a way that felt both celebratory and honest."

    8. Zendaya

    Zendaya wears a black dress fitted in the torso and flowing outwards from the rib cage. She holds an award and smiles, her medium brown hair pushed back from her face by a black ribbon. She wears a chunky silver jewellery,
    Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images

    Actor Zendaya is known for her down-to-earth personality and relatability, so it was unsurprising that she didn't let it slide when Modeliste magazine released a photo edit which slimmed her hips and waist considerably.

    She said on Instagram: "Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19-year-old hips and torso quite manipulated. These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have. Anyone who knows who I am knows I stand for honest and pure self love. So, I took it upon myself to release the real pic (right side), and I love it😍😘 Thank you @modelistemagazine for pulling down the images and fixing this retouch issue."

    9. Emily Ratajkowski

    Emily Ratajkowski wears in her hair down and wavy around her shoulders, and a black pencil dress with a sweetheart neckline
    Stefania M. D'alessandro / Getty Images

    In a now-deleted Instagram post, model Em Rata said she was "extremely disappointed" in a French magazine for shrinking her lips and breasts on the cover of their magazine. 

    She also called out the magazine for perpetuating a narrow standard of beauty, saying that she and many others have insecurities about the things that make us different from a "typical ideal of beauty" that they have to work past every day, and that she hoped the fashion industry would "finally learn to stop trying to stifle the things that make us unique and instead begin to celebrate individuality." 

    10. Elizabeth Olsen

    Elizabeth wears a black off the shoulder jumpsuit with large elaborate ruffles which circle her chest and back. Her hair is to her chin and slicked back voluminously, showing her thick silver and emerald drop earrings.
    Kevin Mazur / Getty Images

    You'd think people would think twice before messing with the Scarlet Witch, but Empire magazine sure didn't. In a now deleted Instagram post, Marvel actor Olsen added the caption, "does this look like me?" to a photo of the magazine's cover, in which she had uber-sharp cheekbones, a slimmed nose, and pursed lips.

    11. Lorde

    Image of Lorde in a lemon yellow bikini top, grinning and waving from on stage
    Kieran Frost / Redferns

    Back in 2014, singer Lorde praised the aesthetic of a shoot she did with Fashion magazine but was quick to point out where they fell flat, tweeting: "apart from the fact that i’m pretty sure this magazine gave me a new nose (:|), i really like this photo".

    She has also posted side-by-side shots of her real skin alongside digitally edited shots which erased spots and redness, reminding her fans to "remember that flaws are ok :-)."

    12. Nicki Minaj

    Nicki stands in the middle of a darkened stage with the spotlight illuminating her. She wears a bright pink cocktail dress with one leg showing, and her hair is candy pink and flows down her back from a tall ponytail atop her head. She is smiling widely.
    Arturo Holmes / Getty Images

    Sometimes, less is more. Singer Nicki Minaj certainly agreed when she accompanied an image of her ESPN cover shoot with Kobe Bryant with the simple but impactful caption: "When retouching goes wrong." 

    She also posted about the shoot again on Instagram, saying: "I love my personal unretouched photos where my forehead doesn't mysteriously grow in length."

    13. Meghan Markle

    Head and shoulders image of Meghan in a white knitted high neck vest, smiling at the camera with her hair tied back
    Chris Jackson / Getty Images for Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023

    Meghan is no stranger to the spotlight, having seen fame as an actor, duchess, and humanitarian. All of this means she's definitely used to seeing her face in magazines, and unfortunately, even more accustomed to seeing aspects of her appearance edited away, like her freckles on her Elle France cover.

    She told Allure magazine: "To this day, my pet peeve is when my skin tone is changed and my freckles are airbrushed out of a photo shoot. For all my freckle-faced friends out there, I will share with you something my dad told me when I was younger: 'A face without freckles is a night without stars.'"

    14. Ashley Benson

    Head and shoulders shot of Ashley looking to the side, wearing a black racer vest. Her blonde hair is wavy and sits at her shoulders, and her eye make up is copper colored
    Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic

    Much like her Pretty Little Liars character, Ashley Benson doesn't mince her words. Referencing what looked like a poster for the show featuring the main actors, she said: "Saw this floating around...hope it's not the poster. Our faces in this were from four years ago...and we all look ridiculous. Way too much Photoshop. We all have flaws. No one looks like this. It's not attractive." 

    Speaking to Stylecaster at a later date, she said: "(Pretty Little Liars) had put up this poster, and it was from our first season, and it was completely crazy. Nobody looked like themselves. Even for magazine covers, they’ll Photoshop out a mole, make your boobs bigger or your waist four sizes smaller, and you’re like, ‘That’s not even me.’ You never know how it’s going to turn out because you have no control and you’re not editing the photos, but it sucks when you’re like, ‘Wow. That’s a completely different person.’”

    She also said: "I always make sure to tell people, with any shit that I do or anyone else does, that unless it’s announced that it’s not Photoshopped, it’s Photoshopped. And don’t get down on yourself for not looking a certain way because it takes a lot of hair and makeup, a ton of good lighting, and after the shoot, it’s all this editing.”

    15. Troian Bellisario

    Head and shoulders shot of Troian with wavy dark ombre hair, smiling. She wears a grey and black v neck top
    Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images

    Pretty Little Liars castmate Troian Belissario agreed with Ashley, saying: "Wow @itsashbenzo I couldn't agree more. Very cool concept as always. But aren't we attractive enough women as we are? Why can't we just look like us?"

    A few months later, she called out controversy around a PLL photoshoot with GQ magazine, saying: "So by now you have seen many a shot from #GQ and many people have said that we were photoshopped... OF COURSE WE WERE! That's a very specific type of photo shoot. And looking very blown out and perfected was obviously what they were looking for. Great. Cool. As long as we acknowledge how it was achieved so we know it's not real."

    16. Meghan Trainor

    Meghan wearing a pastel blue and pink striped asymmetric dress. Her long blonde hair is half up, half down
    Mike Marsland / Mike Marsland / WireImage

    From singer Meghan's hit lyrics, "I see the magazines workin' that Photoshop, we know that sh-t ain't real, come on now, make it stop," you'd think her team would get the memo that she doesn't want any editing in the content she puts out. 

    When the music video for her song, "Me Too," was released, Trainor saw her waist was slimmed without her knowledge or consent. What did she do? She pulled the video until they fixed it.

    She told fans on Snapchat: "Hey guys, I took down the ‘Me Too’ video because they photoshopped the crap out of me. And I’m so sick of it, and I’m over it, so I took it down until they fix it.

    "My waist is not that teeny, I had a bomb waist that night, I don’t know why they didn’t like my waist, but I didn’t approve that video, and it went out for the world, so I’m embarrassed. The video’s still one of my favorite videos I’ve ever done, I’m very proud of it, I’m just pissed off that they broke my ribs you know?” 

    17. Tracee Ellis Ross

    Tracee wearing a bright yellow floor length silk dress with a plunging neckline and long sleeves. Her hair is tied back and she wears chunky gold hoop earrings.
    David M. Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images for PATTERN Beauty by Tracee Ellis Ross

    Even in the face of unanimous praise and no suspicion around photo manipulation, actor Tracee Ellis Ross was quick to highlight the truth behind a viral image of her in a black latex bodysuit. 

    Sharing an image of her original photo with the caption "my actual booty" alongside someone's edit where said booty was noticeably larger, she laughed that it looked like "someone tried to round (her) up to the nearest dollar!"

    18. Priyanka Chopra

    PRIYANKA @priyankachopra

    Heres another "pit-stopping" picture to add to the debate. #WillTheRealArmpitPleaseStandUp #nofilter #armpitdiaries

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    Twitter: @priyankachopra / Via Twitter: @priyankachopra

    Much like the infamous incident when Kristen Stewart's arm went walkabout from a cover of Glamour magazine, Priyanka Chopra's armpits fell victim to an overzealous photo editor.

    For her 2016 Maxim magazine cover, people quickly clocked that her armpit looked edited within an inch of its life, prompting actor Chopra to poke fun at the whole incident with an arms-raised, "pit-stopping" photo on her Twitter.

    19. Kate Winslet

    Kate wearing a black v-neck jumpsuit with a white blazer over the top. She smiles, her blonde hair tucked behind one ear.
    John Phillips / Getty Images For L'Oréal Paris

    Back in 2003, Titanic star Winslet was quick to point out that GQ magazine had "reduced (her) legs by about a third," saying that the "retouching is excessive." She said: "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…For my money it looks pretty good the way it was taken."

    20. Lady Gaga

    Head and shoulders shot of Lady Gaga smiling, her blonde hair swept up in a tight bun and her eye make up accentuating her eyes with white liner and black lashes. She wear chunky jewelled earrings and a matching necklace.
    Axelle / FilmMagic

    Singer Lady Gaga received an award from Glamour magazine at their annual Women of the Year Awards. She used her acceptance speech to speak out about editing photos and body image, using her own cover image with Glamour as an example of what not to do!

    She said: "I felt my skin looked too perfect, I felt my hair looked too soft. I do not look like this when I wake up in the morning. … What I want to see is the change on your covers. When the covers change, that's when culture changes."  

    Glamour's editor-in-chief later responded: "We love the cover — which captures exactly the way Gaga looked at our shoot — but we think her bigger point, that women like Malala Yousafzai are also cover-worthy, is RIGHT ON, and we couldn't agree more. We're proud of the diversity of women we show on our pages, and the diversity of opinions they represent — frankly, Gaga's willingness to challenge how American institutions think is a major reason we honored her to begin with."

    21. Kelly Clarkson

    Nbc / Helen Healey / NBC via Getty Images

    Gently poking fun at the clear photo editing, singer turned presenter Kelly joked that she now knew what she'd look like with a boob job when her promo shots for The Voice were released.

    22. Jessie J

    Jessie J wearing a bright pink outfit with large ruffled sleeves and matching dramatic pink eye make up
    Chelsea Guglielmino / FilmMagic

    While magazines and other media outlets might be who we first think of as culprits for excessive photo editing, singer Jessie J called out the followers who dramatically alter her appearance for fan edits.

    On her Instagram story, she said: "I am noticing more and more pictures my fans are posting of me where my face is edited. My nose is often made smaller and pointy, my chin is smaller, my lips are bigger. Please STOP EDITING MY FACE. I look like what I look like. I like my face, flaws and all. If you don't like my face the way it is, then don't post pictures of it."  

    23. Jamie Lee Curtis

    Jamie Lee Curtis wearing a "Halloween" long sleeved t-shirt with Michael Myers on it, smiling in front of a poster for Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights
    Rich Polk / Getty Images for Universal Studios Hollywood

    Throwing it back to 2002, scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis decided the real horror was society's overuse and reliance of airbrushing to promote beauty "ideals." 

    She posed for More magazine with no makeup, manicure, or hair styling, and wore only a black sports bra and boxer short style underpants. Talking about the effect over-edited photography has on women's confidence and self-image, she told the magazine: "There’s a reality to the way I look without my clothes on. People assume that I’m walking around in little spaghetti-strap dresses. It’s insidious — Glam Jamie, the Perfect Jamie, the great figure, blah, blah, blah. And I don’t want the unsuspecting 40-year-old women of the world to think that I’ve got it going on.” 

    What do you think? Should photo editing to erase "flaws" be stopped, or should we all just take celeb photos with a pinch of salt and view them more as artworks that don't necessarily depict its subject exactly? Do you think beauty standards would be more realistic if we didn't always see the smooth skinned, tiny waisted versions of our fave celebs? Let me know in the comments!