13 times celebrities caused controversy with edited photos: besides Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day Photoshop fail, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé were caught – so who’s the worst offender?
Kate Middleton’s recent Mother’s Day Photoshop fail made headlines and sparked so many conspiracy theories and memes online that she had to release an apology statement for the doctored image.
Let’s be real – in an era ruled by social media and picture-perfect celebrities, the world is no stranger to photo-editing software.
But with netizens scrutinising your every post, it’s virtually impossible to get away with retouching these days – even for the British royals.
How though, when you have a glam squad and PR team managing your every move, do you let these photos get out in the first place?
Photoshop fails show up in various ways, but the most obvious missteps include suspiciously warped furnishings in the vicinity of a celebrity’s curves, elements that are wildly out of proportion – and straight up missing body parts.
Middleton and the royal family are not the only ones who have been caught and criticised for altering their images. Read on for 13 celebrity Photoshop fails.
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1. Ariana Grande’s weird hand
2. Miranda Kerr’s wavy carpet
3. Zendaya’s manipulated torso
There are, of course, scenarios where the editing choices are out of a celebrity’s control. Zendaya was quick to oppose the exaggerated waist-nip and thigh slimming in a 2015 Modeliste magazine cover shoot. Being the authentic girl she is, she even shared a before-and-after close-up to address unrealistic beauty standards.
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4. Kendall Jenner’s wonky door frame
It seems every Kardashian has had their fair share of Photoshop fails, and in Kendall Jenner’s pic, the wonky door frame gives it away. Despite having an incredible figure, it seems the KUWTK star and supermodel just couldn’t resist making her waist even more itty bitty than it already is.
5. Bella Hadid’s curving cupboard
You’d almost miss what went wrong in this pic while distracted by Hadid’s figure. But nothing gets past the social media police, who noticed the distorted bathroom cupboard, pulled inward in the model’s attempt to accentuate her teeny waist.
6. Madonna’s TikTokker body
Goldie called Madonna out, but never got answers or any acknowledgement. It was just so strange – but then again can probably be expected based on her previous “filter or fillers” rumours.
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7. Airbrush galore for Kris Jenner and Gordon Ramsay
8. Britney Spears’ warped chest of drawers
9. Beyoncé’s added thigh gap
You’d think Beyoncé wouldn’t need the extra touch up with her extremely fit physique, but the Crazy In Love singer has also fallen victim to the occasional poor edit. Fans were fast to notice the telltale staircase, which took the fall for her inserted thigh gap in 2014.
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10. John Mayer’s cartoonlike selfie
Guys are also very much guilty of editing their pics. Although some fans believe Mayer was just being ironic in his extremely facetuned selfie from 2014, others weren’t sure and were left baffled by his choice of filter. We’ll leave it to you to determine the verdict.
11. Justin Bieber’s Calvin Klein campaign
12. Kylie Jenner’s crooked curtain
We could go for days about the family’s list of Photoshop fails. The selfie queen herself pictured here forgot to check the state of the curtain beside her when she posted this pic in 2017.
13. Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day mishap
The image appeared to have been digitally edited, causing agencies like Reuters, Getty Images and Associated Press to pull the image, notifying media agencies to “kill” the photo.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day,” she wrote.
Additional reporting by Sumnima Kandangwa
- When an official royal photo of Kate Middleton with her 3 kids was revealed to have been edited, the news swiftly sparked memes and more conspiracy theories around the princess’ whereabouts
- But the British royals weren’t the only ones: the Kardashian-Jenners, Madonna, Britney Spears and John Mayer were all caught tweaking their appearance for social media too