When millions of little girls across the world flip through their mommy’s magazines to catch a glimpse of their favorite celebrities, they’re often dumbfounded by how perfect they look. This will of course lead to lives of eating disorders, rampant self-esteem issues and the ultimate realization that they will just never measure up — all caused by a glorious thing we like to call airbrushing.
Airbrushing, or photo retouching, is an essential part of this industry. I don’t think any female celebs are okay with their image running au naturel. Everyone needs to feel pretty, and technology has made this a reality. Now, let me just say that I’m not judging anyone. If I was being photographed for something that would reach a greater audience than my immediate Facebook network, I would be a f*cking nightmare. First of all, I wouldn’t eat for months (thus sending the french fry industry into immediate peril), and I would hire the most expensive retoucher out of pocket to guarantee that I looked like a prince.
Regardless, many people take issue with airbrushing since it perpetuates myths that everyone famous is perfect. And also, sometimes it just looks completely ridiculous. That said, click through the gallery above for some of the most unrecognizable airbrushing jobs in Hollywood history. Let us know if there is anyone we missed!
the one of jen is crazy!! looks like a fake person!
I never buy anything that an actress or actor gets paid to advertise in any magazine because all it does is up the price of a product. Sad part is, if people sees any of the people in real life, they will be shocked and the actors will be so embarrassed.
I thought that one of Christina Aguilera was a pic of Dakota Fanning!
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Is that last one Madonna? If so, put your clothes on girl.
Also the face is old looking.
If you don’t bring the bad magazines into the safe house then the poor little girls won’t become neurotic or they may anyway just cause they can.
OMG, Madonna is the worst! I could understand a little touch-up for the wrinkles, but did they really have to give her that fake glow? No one’s skin looks like that in real life, even if they are 22 years old have a $500 an hour derm on call!
it looks like they even reduced the size of her nose. Why???
You missed Adele on Vogue cover !!! they took of at least 20lbs of her…
Honestly everyone is airbrushed now days, even the most perfect looking models! When it comes to some people they just need more of it, like Madonna and Demi… plus poor Jennifer has to compete with Angelina who might be scary skinny but is still undeniably drop dead gorgeous.
Actually Adele has recently lost about 30 pounds so do your research before you assume!
maybe but its still not that dramatic of a difference. I don’t pick up magazines off but Adele’s photoshop job was like WOW! and I think she looks amazing even if she’s not model skinny
Compete with Angelina???? Please, it’s the other way around. Angelina will never be as beautiful as Jen and will never in her life time be as classy. Both her and Mr Pitt look skanky these days.
Besides the fake on Madonna face, what’s her position in that photo? Legs spread as if a lady … in waiting for a happy shake? Madonna dear, you’ve got children, for Pete’s sake, show some decency. You can be sexy, hot, whatever, but don’t go vulgar unnecessarily. You used to be a smart girl. Now you’re just … trash. Seriously.
come on! That is how Madonna has always been! Its old news, she never was a lady just a rock and roll, sex pot, pop star. Did you for get like a virgin days and the sex book. That’s who she is, get over it.
Yes, you missed the one of Kristen Stewart on the cover of W in August! The cover and the entire spread looked nothing like her. http://www.dlisted.com/2011/08/12/kristen-stewart-unbutches-w-magazine
It looks like her, it is just a different way of doing her makeup. Very dramatic compared to how you are used to seeing her.
i can understand smoothing wrinkles and removing blemishes; the complete overhaul of a body shape is too far. My solution= don’t buy them.
Is there supposed to be a comment for each picture in the gallery? The Demi Moore comments don’t change as you scroll through.
Is there supposed to be a comment for each picture in the gallery? The Demi Moore comments don’t change as you scroll through.
More Madonna bashing – it wont stop her album being number 1 worldwide this weekend. I don’t even believe the before pic of her is real. When she appears on tv she doesnt look that old and that’s tv, I’m sure she’s gonna put on makeup for her pics. I think the before pic is fake.
Thank you! A lot of stars also have 16 hour days, get up for a shoot at 4 am, etc. I’m only a few years younger and I’m grateful I see pics now and again without airbrush, a lot of them look just like everyone else. I WISH I had her physical strength and agility, I’d hire a trainer myself if I could,
I don’t mind the ones of Jennifer Aniston, Adele, Amanda Seyfried. Jen still looks like herself, but they’ve brightened her eyes A LOT, and they’ve polished her skin a bit much. Amanda looks perfectly normal, really. It’s the shots of Demi and Madonna that are photoshopped to hell and back. And I work with photoshop everyday. You can spot a lot of heavy-handed photoshop jobs from a mile away.
Elizabeth Banks on the cover of Lucky was just as bad!
It’s ridiculous to blame the actresses for this airbrushing; they have very little control over any of it.
Actually most celebrities have their own photoshop experts on payroll and approve all the photos released to the public.
seeing the madonna picture makes me feel wayyyyyy better about myself. i knew they retouched but i didnt know they retouched quite that much! wonder what i woudl look like airbrushed? hmmm.
right! they airbrush and photoshop all the celeb pics! to make them look flawless…
You can airbrush in Photoshop.
It’s amazing isn’t it?? Did you ever see the Oprah show — where she LET them come in and follow her through her daily FOUR HOUR “make-up/hair/get dressed” routine?? You can get a software program, called Portrait Professional, for under $75!! and change your face/eyes/hair/shape of your mouth, nose, everything…. Not true photography, I say!
Madonna doesn’t look old in real life because her face has more botox in it than Demi, Nicole Kidman, and Rene Zellweger (sp?) put together…
Wow. Jennifer Aniston looks like a tranny on the right
Airbrushing, or photo retouching, is an essential part of this industryRegards
Now, let me just say that I’m not judging anyone.
Airbrushing, or photo retouching, is an essential part of this industry.
Elizabeth Banks on the cover of Lucky was just as bad!
“I believe that beauty magazines promote low self-esteen…….”
Darren Hayes – “Affirmation”
exactly!
some of you are dumba s hell there’s always been photo retouching in the entertainment industry get over it and there are times when it’s needed like if the celeb is known to have acne or other skin pigmintation issues like Rosecha or if it’s a female and she’s pregnant there’s acne issues that come from that. as for them being spokespeople for products it’s part of enhancing your portfolio
i can understand smoothing wrinkles and removing blemishes; the complete
overhaul of a body shape is too far.
Whoever did the Madonna one, should be ashamed, poor quality, very amateurish looking and doesn’t do Modonna any justice.
A good article and most of the cutlines to your photo examples were on target. But two things about your comments on Amanda Seyfried. First, it is Seyfried, not Seyfriend as you wrote. Don’t your editors look at this stuff before it goes online? Second, I had no trouble recognizing Seyfried even at a glance, unlike some of the others. She DOES look young and fresh-faced naturally. That was not one of the ‘Most Unrecognizable Airbrushing Jobs in Hollywood History’. Instead it was a normal airbrushing and nothing more. What made you thing it was unusual? Other than that, your article was really quite good. Please remember to spell Seyfried’s name correctly next time.
And also, sometimes it just looks completely ridiculous. That said, click through the gallery above for some
And also, sometimes it just looks completely ridiculous. That said,
click through the gallery above for some of the most unrecognizable
airbrushing
The Most Unrecognizable Airbrushing Jobs In Hollywood History
Based on the headline, “history” is the last 10 minutes. What a crock. Trumping up interest in a group largely made up of nobodies is its own form of airbrushing.
the fact is does anyone care? I would like to see all the East europeans and muslims piss back to the holes they come from
Uh, what?
Madonna looks like a cartoon in her retouched shot. They totally could have retouched her photo without trying to make her look like she was 30 years younger. They could have just shaved off ten or fifteen with mild fixes and she still would have looked great.
right! they airbrush and photoshop all the celeb pics! to make them look flawless…
seeing the madonna picture makes me feel wayyyyyy better about myself. i
knew they retouched but i didnt know they retouched quite that much!
wonder what i woudl look like airbrushed? hmmm.
the gallery above for some of the most unrecognizable airbrushing jobs
in Hollywood history. Let us know if there is anyone we missed!
just think of it this way the Name is good for business the image is not. Thats why they fixed up madonna. I got a recent mag of Elle with reese witherspoon on the cover me and my mother couldnt even tell it was her.
Airbrushing is a thing I would love to have for me!! I’m still working on how I can feel beautiful about myself, and this sure would be a solution to one of those!! Where can I get it?? (Only kidding.)
This kind of deceit really undermines Madge’s extraordinary efforts to maintain herself. She knocks herself out to stay fit, and we all can’t tell the difference, because the photoshop job cleans up everything back to the age of 12. She should just let herself go and make those photoshop wankers work much harder.
Then again, maybe she already has…
Demi needs a beat down for that picture, it doesnt even look like her, it that Helena Rubenstein crap can make u look like this I’m goona bathe in it every day ??
Demi’s photo is ridiculous. No one would recognize her without the accompanying copy.
When little girls look at that image they should think; “nice airbrush job, When I grow up I would like to be a photoshop technician or an airbrush artist”.
But no, I can get more attention by claiming that art is bad for my self esteem, therefore I must acquire an eating disorder in order to attract attention to myself.
According to the idiot who wrote this article there is a DIRECT link “This will of course lead to lives of eating disorders, rampant self-esteem issues ”… really?
This apparently only happens to females, whom I understand (from reading comix and Heat Magazine) are the superior gender in every single aspect.
Self image issues come from within, not from magazines or comic books. Grow up.
technology has made this a reality. Now, let me just say that I’m not judging anyone. If I was being photographe
you left out Faith Hill. Redbook Cover.
Some of these are ridiculous…that’s why I admire Britney Spears for allowing her Candie’s ads “before” pics to be released.
agreed! She is definitely someone who has embraced their adult body…which is amazing considering the standard she set in her teen years
Yes, for sure. And it’s significant that its her who released the pictures as she set a standard for teens everywhere with the body she had back then. The fact that she released the photos says that she’s comfortable with the body she has and that you dont have to look like the Britney of 2001 to be beautiful.
yes!yes!yes!
links?
just google it lol
And also, sometimes it just looks completely ridiculous. That said,
click through the gallery above for some of the most unrecognizable
That said, click through the gallery above for some of the most unrecognizable airbrushing jobs in Hollywood history
This will of course lead to lives of eating disorders, rampant
self-esteem issues and the ultimate realization that they will just
never measure up — all caused by a glorious thing we like to call airbrushing
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Pretty sure they just chopped off Patti Stanger’s head and pasted it on a different person. Also, I don’t even know who some of these people are.
You know Patti Stanger but not Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, or Demi Moore?
lol, of course I know them – but some of the pictures are so unrecognisable (and unlabelled, as far as I can tell) that I can’t even take a guess as to who they are.
Pretty sure they just chopped off Patti Stanger’s head and pasted it on a different person. Also, I don’t even know who some of these people are.
Hollywood history. Let us know if there is anyone we missed!
Hollywood history. Let us know if there is anyone we missed!
I thought that demi moore pic was sara jessica parker!
I thought that Demi Moore picture was a stripper at the local juice bar.
regardless, many people take issue with airbrushing sinc
Uh, what?
Who is Patti Stanger?
Demi Moore looks the scariest to me. I wasn’t sure who she was at first. I also agree with Esculnick about beauty magazines promote low self-esteen.
Give me a break. If a girl grows up believing that she is awful because she doesn’t look like “one of the girls from the magazine,” that’s the parent’s fault not the artist. Pass blame where it’s due.
KEEPING IT REAL: If you are worried about your child’s future being affected by some inoffensive images, you suck. (Although, I do believe that kids looking at hardcore porn is immoral, but that’s not this topic.)
Here is why:
1) Life is more complicated than women being airbrushed. For example, people kill and rape daily.
2) THIS TOPIC IS A CLICHÉ
Moving forward, inoffensive airbrushed images should not be any part of the hierarchy that causes depression; it’s only art. In contrast, if a newspaper, or something news worthy, is manipulating photos, then, there are many moral and legal problems one could delve into. Finally, telling and reminding your kid at an early age that normal people don’t always look like how they appear in magazines should be enough. I was young when I learned that normally, men don’t wear blue tights with red underwear over them and also, don’t have tree-trunk-sized biceps.
SOLUTION:
So here is the solution for this topic FOREVER. Tell your child those women, or whatever, have been artistically modified. However, he or she can look normal, what is perceived as good, with a healthy diet, according to common sense. Additionally, you can show your child what normal healthy people look like, and now there are new images to compare with the airbrushed ones. Quintessentially, teach your child about life, and give this to the next person who wants to write a negative topic about airbrushing.
seeing the madonna picture makes me feel wayyyyyy better about myself. i knew they retouched but i didnt know they retouched quite that much! wonder what i woudl look like airbrushed? hmmm.
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Remember the spread Germaine Greer’s husband/boyfriend did for Playgirl? They airbrushed his belly button out.
I pay no attention to photos on magazines since 99% are completely airbrushed and only resemble a photograph.
Have you ever seen the Dove commercial that was made to show young girls that mostly everyone is photoshopped and how the girls look before the commericials? Its a campaign to help raise the self esteam of alot of girls who think perfect girls exsist when really the person they start with ends up looking like a completly different person anyway. The moral of the story is that the perfect person doesn’t exist…. no matter how beautiful you are…. EVERYONE has their flaws.
Fifty years ago, Helen Gurley Brown wrote in a Cosmo article that women shouldn’t “smile or frown too much”, because it causes wrinkles.
I chucked that piece of garbage into nearest trash barrel, and never looked back.
And I love my smile wrinkles!
Doesn’t even look like her. I don’t know why they even take the picture anymore.
I would hire the most expensive retoucher out of pocket to guarantee that I looked like a prince.
Duh! Ive taught Adobe Photoshop in tech schools for years. It’s not a big deal to take out wrinkles under the eyes, etc, make the eyes themselves look deeper (a bluer blue, a greener green, etc, Make the right colors “pop”, the complexion perfect.. There’s nothing unusual about the girls here. Its only been going on for 20 years.
Airbrushed photos don’t bother me at all because I am confident about myself, and I know that’s not the way they really look. But I can see it being a problem for young girls or most women. We as consumers should not encourage the magazines to get away with what they do, don’t read them! and we can change what’s put in.
lol, of course I know them – but some of the pictures are so unrecognisable (and unlabelled, as far as I can tell) that I can’t even take a guess as to who they are.
To rephrase the first paragraph a bit: When millions of little boys watch baseball with their daddies to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars, they’re often dumbfounded by how perfectly these men play the game of baseball. This will lead to the ultimate realization that they will never measure up, athletically, to those stars.
But, most won’t have self-esteem issues, at least not from watching great players play. They will play baseball anyway, even knowing that they can probably never be as good as the pros they saw on TV. Because that’s life – some people are more physically beautiful than others, and some people are more athletically gifted than others, always has been that way, probably always will, might as well learn this lesson early and get on with your life. Girls can do this just as well as boys, obviously.
A hundred years ago, when I was about 15 years old, I read an article in Cosmopolitan magazine that a woman “shouldn’t frown or smile too much” because it caused wrinkles. (This was way before boxtox could freeze your face into an unmoving mask.) Don’t “frown or smile” too much?? Be a Barbie? I shoved that magazine into the nearest garbage bin…and Helen Gurley Brown’s sick, self-hating attitude with it. And every time I look in the mirror and see my lovely wrinkles, caused by all those years of grinning and scowling and being human, I think of that magazine and laugh my droopy old ass off.
How sad it would be if I made it to my grave without evidence I smiled a lot.
I got a shirt one time at Photoshop World that I thought was so cool. It read “who needs photoshop when you have a body like mine.’
The airbrushing make up they sometimes do on Michelle OBama and Oprah is ok…but the problem comes when you later see them UNbrushed, it’s sort of a shock. I say be real all the time. Just use the make-up you can do yourself.
many people take issue with airbrushing since it perpetuates myths that everyone famous is perfect.
That said, click through the gallery above for some of the most
unrecognizable airbrushing jobs in Hollywood history. Let us know if
there is anyone we missed!
Ahhh, why is Amanda Seyfreid using a blowdryer over a sink? Didn’t anyone teach her basic safety?? lol
I would hire the most expensive retoucher out of pocket to guarantee that I looked like a prince.
Why are live models even needed? If airbrushing creates the image, just create it entirely. This is sick and how many times have I looked at a photo and wondered who the hell it was? Even with the caption, these people are unrecognizable.
What a relief, now I can give up the quest for the perrfect concealer
How sad is it that retouching is so pervasive and misunderstood that even when clearly shown reality people refuse to believe it and instead doubt the actual image. I am a photographer and retoucher and understand how much is done and thought people had a better idea. To me educating people is the key here and Sepherynx’s comment makes me realise that might be harder than I thought.
A lot of the change is simply that they’re showing a flat raw file compared to a contrast adjusted final. After that there’s a huge amount of skin smoothing (and some remodelling – yes they draw in a narrower nose shadow, making the nose look smaller).
Here’s one where they’re equalised for contrast (just a single simple adjustment) to see the real “airbrushing difference)
By the way, I personally find this and the Demi More image’s level of retouching way overdone. I prefer subtle enhancements and still think that people just need to realise that that is what’s done.
It’s not new that portraits of people offer a flattering version of them (painters have done that for centuries). What’s changed is that people think it’s real. Hence my belief that it’s necessary to educate people so that they understand that what they see is akin to a painting and not a documentary photograph (one area where retouching is heavily frowned upon by all).
It’s mainly skin smoothing. The “fake glow” is mostly just a contrasty image (see the example I post below with the contrast boosted on the “before” shot. That’s something that photographers did through film choice and processing in “the old days” anyway. It’s a stylistic choice. The smoothing is out of control here, though. She should look like a 50 something, not a 20 something as you say.
Agreed, I think it’s how she’s always been. It’s more unbecoming as she gets older, though. That position is just awful. I wonder if it’s an outtake that someone’s done a hack job retouch on personally. It would help to know where it was from.
I may be old fashioned ,and allso being a man .I prefer women use very little make up .If done right less is more .Most men i have spoke to agree with me .nice eyes and lips are sexy and bangs always look hot.
My late husband had a few Playboys from his military days…and whadda ya know–Madonna @ 13 centerfold.
I would hire the most expensive retoucher out of pocket to guarantee that I looked like a prince.
While this article and motivation is spot on, we must also add that many of these women have also had EXTENSIVE cosmetic surgery. It is therefore just as disingenuous to publish “Madonna is stunning for 53″ without acknowledging that she has had numerous procedures along with Demi. These women don’t realize that they were once naturally beautiful and hot but now they indeed look like aliens and quite unreal. Even our favorite hot stuff, Aniston has had her nose done years ago. Personally I am sick and tired of reading about “how wonderful” they all look, when it is all artificial. Airbrushing was only used to cover major flaws and or photographic mistakes…now that everything is digital, EVERY aspect of this is bogus and therefore meaningless. This practice MUST end or we will face a catastrophe with the next generation of girls and women.
Back in the day…Elizabeth Taylor graced the cover of a very popular magazine sans make-up and hair-do (it was wrapped in a towel turban style) and I don’t beleive that her photo was airbrushed. She was a real beauty!
I wouldn’t have known who was in some of the pics if you hadn’t mentioned their names. And as far as Madonna: she has reinvented herself many times. But she has never reinvented herself to be a lady. Patti’s skeleton is larger than what this picture shows her to be.
If I spend money on a glitzy fashion magazine, I want to see perfection, not some wrinkly old broad. Bring on the air brush, I say!!
I think they look great…and who cares anyway? We all know about airbrushing…makeup for photos. Whats the big deal? Its not real life…. duh.
Good for Demi and shame on you.
Lovely post, good for you!
I never read those silly magazines. They’re all about making women feel bad about themselves so they can sell their overpriced products.
I saw Carry Underwood on the cover of some mag the other day and wouldn’t have known it was her had it not been for the big headline. She, like Jennifer Aniston, does not need airbrushing. They couldn’t be more gorgeous than they naturally are.
I can understand having the make-up retouched, but they are shaving off pounds, changing the shape of the nose or other features, and making some people unrecognizable. That is going WAY to far.
Here’s a simple formula I use to determine if something or someone has had the airbrush treatment. Celeb + Magazine cover = airbrushed. It works…really. Try it next time you’re standing in line at the local Walmart or even at some small Mom and Pop shack. One quick glance at the rag rack and whola….Betty White sporting the latest bikini on Elle?..guess what..it’s airbrushed. People magazine sporting Sean Connery as the sexiest man alive, looking like he has the body of a young “Ahnold” and the face of a 20 year old Calvin Klien model….you guessed it…airbrushed. That cute pic of Goldie Hawn and her daughter looking like fresh Wrigley Gum identical twins grinning those pearly whites at each other above the bold title that states, “Even Kurt can’t tell them apart !!”….yes it is …wait for it…wait for it…YES!! Airbrushed.
This formula also works for TV commercials hawking anti-aging creams and wrinkle removers. Why…isn’t that Diane Keaton looking fabulous and chipper with that Maybelline foundation and wrinkle relaxer you’ll want to shout at the screen. Hell yeah she looks great….as she stands 50 feet away from the camera, with just enough lighting to keep cockroaches away but still light enough to show that we too, ala Jack Nicholson, don’t want to see her naked either…….Hey Hollywood and New York…we (the general public, that is,) are not THAT numb….really. lol
I have lady friends that are older Madona that make her look like what she is a over priced hooker.
Portrait Professional is downright creepy the way it can alter the actual structure of the face to some preconceived notion of “perfection!” I personally use Portraiture which just works on the skin tone/texture… MUCH more natural looking!
can’t you find something worthwhile to whine about
She looks like an old bar hag in the before picture….very unflattering.
Felicity Huffman in the People issue discussing the end of Desperate Housewives. She either had tons of airbrushing or, in fact, had some work done. She looked about 22.
Yep you can airbrush in a lot of photo apps and they don’t cost anything and I think most people would use the features…
It is called Photoshop. Airbrushing is a make up application technique that we make up artists have been using for 15 years.
Someone doesn’t get it. Athletes actually have to be able to play – you can’t Photoshop a good game. You can’t Photoshop musical talent (although technology is advancing in this area, much to the chagrin of real musicians) or acting ability. These photos are fake, period, and they promote a bizarre, plastic, inhuman standard that is not psychologically healthy for young girls to see or emulate.
Is that an adult diaper Madonna is wearing?
Might have wrinkles on the outside but would be worse to loose your enthusiasm and have a wrinkly old soul. Congrats on your beautiful soul!
They kept Madonna’s death a secret…
Nice job by the embalmer, though.
Yeah, totally over the airbrushing and natural food companies using plastic surgery, extensions, botox, filler freaks as spokesmodels for their brands. There are plenty of gorgeous natural beauties out there.
wow-Madonna IS Gollum!!!
unrecognizable airbrushing jobs in Hollywood history. Let us know if there is anyone we missed!
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