Vocal powerhouse Meghan Trainor is known for her hit songs about self-love and female empowerment, so when she realized last week that producers had digitally whittled her waist in her new music video “Me Too,” she pulled it from the Internet immediately. The next day, Trainor's video was re-released, un-retouched. "The real #metoo video is finally up! Missed that bass,” she wrote in a caption of an Instagram post that showed side-by-side pics of her photoshopped body and her natural curves.
Trainor isn't the only star outraged by the incessant photoshopping that makes it that much tougher for women to feel joyful and proud in their own skin. Here, 10 more celebrities vent how they really feel about digital nips and tucks.
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On the importance of being honest
"If any magazines want to guarantee they'll let my stomach roll show and my reddened cheek make an appearance, I am your girl Friday. Anything that will let me be honest with you. But moreover, I want to be honest with me. This body is the only one I have. I love it for what it's given me. I hate it for what it's denied me. And now, without further ado, I want to be able to pick my own thigh out of a lineup."
—Lena Dunham, Lenny Letter, March 2016
On being “enough” just the way you are
“I was very taken aback and very uncomfortable about looking at an image that I did not recognize as myself…. That is not OK with me because that echoes that little girl who thought, ‘I wasn’t enough.’ I know that I’m enough. So don’t make me feel like I’m not enough by changing me to fit some idea of what you think I’m supposed to look like. What I look like is OK.”
—Kerry Washington on her Adweek cover, Oprah Women’s Network Super Soul Sessions, April 2016
On models photoshopping themselves
“It’s gotten to the point where they’re not smoothing their skin anymore, they’re actually changing the shape of their body. Nobody can compare to that when you’re fixing yourself so much. It’s so unfair…. It started with Botox and everything, of course, but now it’s just grown into this photoshop phenomenon—and I’ve seen these women in person—they are not like that. Please know that. I’ve shot in barely anything with them, and it’s just amazing what people do to tweak themselves.”
—Chrissy Teigen, The Meredith Vieira Show, April 2015
On creating unrealistic ideals
“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.”
—Zendaya, Instagram, October 2015
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On baring it all
"For someone who's had body image issues since they were a child, I went from hating every inch of my body to showing every inch of my body to the entire world and without touching up anything… A lot of times I get frustrated because people will, without my consent, Photoshop my body and it doesn't look like my own body. Like, no no no, my thighs are bigger than that, can you put them back to the way they were? I've literally done that before where I'm like, ‘No, put my legs back on me. Those aren't my legs.’"
—Demi Lovato on her nude and unretouched photo shoot for Vanity Fair, E! News, October 2015
On accepting your “flaws”
—Lorde, Twitter, March 2014
On the impact of media
“The media plays such a big role in how women measure themselves against other women, so I can be in a position where I can say beauty comes from within, we're not all perfect, and the covers of magazines are of course retouched. We do not look like that… I have wrinkles here, which are very evident, and I will particularly say when I look at movie posters, 'You guys have airbrushed my forehead. Please can you change it back?' I'd rather be the woman they're saying 'She's looking older' about than 'She's looking stoned.'"
—Kate Winslet, Harper’s Bazaar, July 2009
On body pride
—Amy Schumer, Twitter, April 2015
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On being unique
"I love that feeling of, you know, we are women, we are so different, our imperfections are what make us unique and beautiful."
—Gisele Bundchen on her makeup-free campaign for BLK DNM, Fashionista, May 2013
On how extreme editing can get
Saw this floating around…hope it's not the poster. Our faces in this were from 4 years ago…and we all look ridiculous. Way too much photo shop. We all have flaws. No one looks like this. It's not attractive.”
—Ashley Benson, Instagram, December 2013