Now you see Kim Kardashian’s cellulite, now you don’t

27th March 2009

Now you see Kim Kardashian’s cellulite, now you don’t

Kim why-is-this-woman-famous? Kardashian was set to appear on the cover of Complex magazine, only when the mag posted its images online, it accidentally posted the un-Photoshopped version of Kim’s cover shot. Complex eventually yanked the photo and replaced it with the altered version, which cropped off inches from Kardashian’s legs, smoothed her cellulite, whittled her waist and brightened (whitened?) her skin, but they didn’t make the switch fast enough. Oops.

Kim Kardashion Complex magazine Photoshopped before

The side-by-side comparison is now making the rounds on the internet with many gleefully poking fun at Kim’s cottage cheese dimpled thighs. Kardashian responded on her blog, saying:

So what: I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn’t!? How many people do you think are photoshopped? It happens all the time!

I’m proud of my body and my curves and this picture coming out is probably helpful for everyone to see that just because I am on the cover of a magazine doesn’t mean I’m perfect.

Let me remind readers that cellulite? Is not a sign that you’re fat. Kardashian’s response is admirably restrained in light of the criticism she’s getting, but of course, like all stars accused of the crime of fatness, she reminds her fans that she’s back on the skinny bus bandwagon:

At the same time as this Complex shoot, I was gearing up for my fitness DVD and you should see my thighs now!!! Haha! This all motivates me to stay in the gym because my goal this year has been to get in better shape and tone up! Hard work pays off!

Oh well, at least she didn’t try to blame it on her clothes or insist that she’s still a size 2, which is definitely not fat!

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 11:25 am and is filed under Fat Bias, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 On March 27th, 2009, Mary Sue said:

No comments on them making her white, though?

I’m going to go bang my head on the wall now.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 11:46 am

2 On March 27th, 2009, Twistie said:

So with Mary-Sue on this. I noticed the white out before I noticed how much smaller her thighs were made.

Also, Rachel, I have to echo your excellent question: why oh WHY is this woman famous???

Still. Her response – while certainly not all I would hope for – could have been a hell of a lot worse. If only she hadn’t added that thing about her exercise DVD and ‘you should see my unretouched curvy thighs NOW’ bit.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 12:18 pm

3 On March 27th, 2009, Jamie said:

My first thought when seeing the unretouched photos was “Wow, she looks just like me!”

So does this mean that….?
a)I should be on TV or
b)that I need my own photoshopping

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 12:21 pm

4 On March 27th, 2009, Stella said:

RE: The White Out

Its funny how that works. People love to use her for Orientalist erotic imagery but they have to white her up to make it work. Bleg.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

5 On March 27th, 2009, Meryt Bast said:

I think “cellulite” is just a word designed to make us go, “Gahhh! Getitoffmegetitoffme!” thus inducing us to buy anti-cellulite snake oil. It pathologizes a trait that for most women is normal.

I’m sorry that Kardashian follows up her body-positivity with a plug for her DVD. It undercuts her first statement, IMO.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

6 On March 27th, 2009, apricotmuffins said:

I know that a lot of people (everyone should have) an issue with photoshop lightening darker skin in most media we see, but I would like to suggest that here it may be more to do with taking some of the redness in the photograph to balance the image and make it more visually pleasing, than to make her lighter. They havent actually done much to the colours, just adjusted the levels to make her skin less saturated. its only a little lighter because the whole photograph is lighter, background included.

Dark skin and light skin look a lot different to the camera lense, as with all subjects, the exposure, focus and aperture (how much light the camera lets in)needs to be individually calibrated for the best results, and sometimes the photographer is sloppy and/or incompetent. (the latter is probably more true as its easier to make a photograph look good in photoshop than to take a good photograph in the first place. oh the digital age!)

(I’m by no means a photography expert, i have to say. And i do acknowlege that lightening skin in media is a big problem, but im also not sure its always intentional.)

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

7 On March 27th, 2009, tara said:

Q: WHY is this woman famous???
A: She has a big ass and a sex tape.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

8 On March 27th, 2009, Diane said:

Wait, so, why IS she famous? Wait, no, nevermind, I really don’t care.
I like the un-touched pic way better.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 1:58 pm

9 On March 27th, 2009, Alyssa (The 39 year-old) said:

I also like the first (darker skin, cellulite-y) photo better.
Yes, her response could have been worse. Could have been BETTER, but it could have been worse.
WHY did they lighten her skin? Oh, right. Because whiter is better, right? Which is why all of us pasty caucasians spend thousands of dollars on self-tanning products!

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

10 On March 27th, 2009, JupiterPluvius said:

No comments on them making her white, though?

She is white. She’s Armenian, Scottish, and Dutch in heritage.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 5:03 pm

11 On March 27th, 2009, Emma said:

Her skin is light because with the photoshop done (a lot of photoshop might I ad) it just makes the photo look even.
Yes its sad that photoshoped pictures are the norm now. Kim isn’t,well very smart. Watching her show makes my head hurt. Her job is her body.She can’t act, sing, doesn’t have anything to say.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 6:13 pm

12 On March 27th, 2009, NYCya said:

I had to see this for myself, because it’s such a “big deal” on the net. However, I believe this comes under the category of “Can we all just get a life now?” I had to look twice to see her cellulite and at the end of the day, WHO CARES??? She looks great either way. Please pass the gravy.

posted on March 27th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

13 On March 28th, 2009, Rhondaroo said:

This is so silly. She looked fine in the unretouched photo. This silly “cellulite” thing is so silly. And “white” is also just an invention. Human is human, no matter what country or continent someone or someone’s ancestors came from.

posted on March 28th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

14 On March 28th, 2009, Sarah said:

Kim’s natural complexion is an olive color (and she’s probably a regular visitor to a tanning booth), and it’s annoying that it has to be “retouched” to be acceptable.

posted on March 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

15 On March 29th, 2009, Alex said:

I don’t think they were trying to make her appear whiter as much as they were trying to even out her skin tone in photoshop. The first photo has some shadows that don’t appear in the second.

posted on March 29th, 2009 at 7:03 pm

16 On March 29th, 2009, Alex said:

I do think the “whitening” of celebrities is a huge problem, though. As is the idealization of women of color who appear virtually Caucasian.

posted on March 29th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

17 On April 1st, 2009, Jackie said:

It does look like they tried to bleach her skin! :O

posted on April 1st, 2009 at 7:53 pm

18 On April 21st, 2009, Sarah said:

Her replies are getting worse:

I am a curvy girl and I love my curves, but curvy and plus-sized are two very different things. I work really hard to maintain my curves while staying slim and healthy, so to be classed as a “fuller-figured woman” of extra large proportions is a little offensive. For the record, I am a size 2, not 2XL.

Because if you were a size 2XL, you couldn’t possibly be healthy! Geez…..

posted on April 21st, 2009 at 11:48 pm

19 On April 22nd, 2009, Rachel said:

Didn’t Jennifer Love Hewitt trot out the old “I’m a size 2″ when she was made fun of for being fat?

posted on April 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 am

20 On July 23rd, 2009, McKenzie Wells said:

They didn’t whiten her. The picture was uneditied before. Whenever someone opens up a picture in photoshop the first they do is change the exposure and the white balance. So the picture is brightened and made more a cool blue rather than the red it was before.

posted on July 23rd, 2009 at 4:50 pm

21 On August 22nd, 2009, Ophelia said:

Kim Kara..who? Which Nobel prize has she won? Which philantropic donation has she made? Has she saved any life? crossed any granny the street?
She has been photoshopped? so what? what’s that good for humankind?
Dear ladies, leave her alone, to talkback her name just increases unjustified fame.

posted on August 22nd, 2009 at 2:07 pm