What’s wrong with this picture? Apart from the fact that magazines continue to peddle these tedious stories about post-baby bodies designed to make mothers feel like crap? Apart from this relentless emphasis on losing weight after giving birth? Oh no, there’s more.
Check out the original shot of reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian before US OK magazine CUT HER IN HALF AND DIGITALLY CREATED A NEW LOWER BODY with Photoshop:
A KARDASHIAN REALITY: The new issue of OK magazine claims to have an exclusive on Kourtney Kardashian’s “body after baby,” but the package might not be as exclusive as the magazine proclaims — and Kardashian might not be as slim as she appears on its cover.
The reality TV star contends she never spoke to OK for the cover story, which quotes her as well as her friends and stepfather, Bruce Jenner. “They doctored and Photoshopped my body to make it look like I have already lost all the weight, which I have not,” Kardashian told WWD. She also spoke out to her Twitter followers: “One of those weeklies got it wrong again…they didn’t have an exclusive with me. And I gained 40 pounds while pregs, not 26…But thanks!”
The cover photo features Kardashian posing with her baby, Mason, a shot taken seven days after his birth by Albert Michael of StarTraksPhoto.com. The cover image has been touched up to make Kardashian appear thinner on OK’s cover than in the original photo, which first appeared as part of the Jan. 11 issue of Life & Style.
It also seems that OK has built the lower half of Kardashian’s body for its cover, as the original images were cropped at the belly. An OK spokesman declined comment.
To those who are tired of “all this body image stuff“? To those who say “Photoshop is a fact of life, get over it“? To those who say “we already know magazines digitally retouch images, move on“?
I’m going to say this. I’m not going to move on. Because had the original photo of Kourtney not come to light and had she not spoken out about it, millions of women (and men) would have believed that’s what a woman really looks like 7 days after GIVING BIRTH.
And because if we don’t keep exposing the lies magazines like this are telling us and the gross disservice they are doing to women every time they try to deceive us into believing ANYONE resembles the images they publish, then they win. And we lose.
OK magazine? I am appalled.
Are you?
Oh, and just for the record, THIS is what most women look like in the days after giving birth.
Comments
213 Comments so far
You know, the best way to get past things like this is not to buy their crappy magazines to start off with. I just don’t get papparazzi at all either. Every single person on tv, in movies etc are still people. As my husband says quite bluntly ‘they still have to poop every day like the rest of us’. Why would you bother wasting money on magazines like this that just make up half of the stuff. I go by the motto of ‘half of what you read is bull and the other half is all shit!’ I haven’t bought a magazine for over 20yrs, probably not since it was such a big deal in the late 80s to have the sealed section of the Cleo magazine and even then I was only a teenager and would read my mums copy. They certainly have stopped to a new low to sell magazines. Reminds me of No Ideas cover this week saying the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant. What rubbish!!!!
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Totally agree with you Mia. Also, what happened to the hands of the poor child?
That sort of meddling (if not all) should be illegal.
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I totally agree. One thing I do like is that Kourtney was honest and not supportive of the magazine photoshopping her to make her slimmer than what she was.
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Hi, I am newbie.This is my frist thread …lol.
say hello to everybody.
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I’m with you Mia. This magazine cover IS disgusting. Kourtney & baby look lovely on both accounts but it makes me see RED that stupid ******s continue with this ****! I want my daugther growing up free from this ****. I want her to be able to look at a magazine cover (or heck, even subscribe to a magazine!) and not be scarred for life.
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Looks like they even photoshopped the baby to thin out his sweet chubby cheeks…..I guess its never to early to make what this magazine seems to think are “improvements”.
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Magazines photo show true beauty of mother toddler meals
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look at how funny her hand looks (the hand craddling baby’s butt) now that you know what to look for. It looks kind of like the baby is just floating there and her arms are out in front of her!
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she looks lovely in the original. wish they would show the true beauty of women in these magazines.
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I didn’t all the comments…but they changed the baby too. I am not sure if they used another baby or what…but that is not the same photo of the baby as in the original…the hands and head are different. I guess the baby wasn’t up to their standards either…
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I lost my baby weight rather quickly both times I was pregnant. I was skinny before & skinny after. When moms (friends) say to me you are so lucky I remind them that God’s a fair guy & lift up my shirt to show stretched skin and stretch marks with a smile.
We have two ways to fight this 1-don’t buy magazines such as these and 2- remind ourselves that we are beautiful. Loving ourselves regardless is the best way to raise children who will do the same.
Great post– thanks for starting the conversation!
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Geez… you would think touching up women who arent pregnant or just given birth is enough.. but to lie abt the weight gain 2?? then touch her up on top of that.. what a joke. Im glad she spoke up!
Drea
http://www.dreawood.com
BTW I really enjoyed ur blog! im a 1st time visitor.
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My son is 2 and a half years old now and I still havent lost the weight that I put on while my wife was pregnant with him.
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I’ve got a photo just like that too – right down to the 30 hour labour and epidural and the whole bit!!! And I love it…I was totally unaware of the camera, all I had eyes for was my new little girl…I was blotchy and red and my hair was all over the place, but none of that matters, because what the picture shows is the grin all over my face, and the look in my eyes…and THAT is what it should all be about.
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Ugh – the pressure on celebrities (and non-celebs for that matter) to lose their baby weight is awful. One of the first questions famous women are asked after they announce they are pregnant and announce the birth of the baby/babies is “are you concerned about losing the weight?” or “how are you losing the weight?”. Their reply usually either involves some ridiculour exercise regime and diet or a ‘I don’t care about that’ sort of thing. My personal opinion is that it is absaloutely up to the individual and what is best for them but seriously, what’s the rush and drama? It’s COMPLETELY idiotic for magazines to do huge features on celebrities who cut out dairy or do gruelling training regimes 7 days a week.
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I think she looks So much better in the real picture. Soft, glowing, full of gentle love.
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Thank you Mia! I am 16 weeks pregnant, and while I hope that I am confident and comfortable enough in my own body to be realistic about my expectations after the birth of my baby, it is exactly this type of horrifying media depiction that makes new mothers feel like failures. Is it not enough that we are under intense pressure and scrutiny about every single aspect of motherhood already? Don’t we have enough to worry about as new mums without these added fears and obsessions? Please – just let us try to be the best mothers and women we can be, in a supportive, respectful and realistic environment.
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Bah ha ha ha! Brain food is what I need to remember it’s Mindfood! (Too busy telling Lottie Jnr to eat her brain food)
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Mia, thank you for sharing this! With 193 comments already you have hit a raw nerve.
I think every woman feels depressed after seeing the fantasy airbrushed celebrities in magazines and has no idea they’re completely fake.
PLEASE become a magazine editor again.
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**sigh** articles in magazines like this have a huge effect on me, and I wish they didnt. But they absolutely do . . I probably shouldnt buy/read/engage in the post baby body crap but as I find myself towards the end of another pregnancy my focus is shifting very steadily to ideas/strategies/plans to get rid of my extra weight ASAP. I hate hate hate how i look while im pregnant and even more so post pregnancy and put a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself to return to “normal weight” at the speed of light. While somehow running the house, parenting all of my children, enjoying my new baby etc etc etc.
I wish i cared less. It would make the first few months of my children’s lives more pleasant for sure.
All the comments from others about how quickly i get my shape back etc just increases the pressure to do the same next time around. how “lucky” i am. Pfffft. its called diet and crap loads of exercise, there is no luck involved for me!!
Maybe i should try and come up with some strategies for managing this post baby body anxiety over the next few weeks of the pregnancy as my due date nears. not looking forward to that part of having a new baby at all . .
vent over (sorry!) . . . .
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I agree. We need to stop buying these magazines. They are good at stretching a one sentence catchline out to a whole story. Bring a book with you or upload some podcasts to fight the times you are tempted!
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I don’t bother buying magazines, never have. They have no content…. and are to expensive. I am a one of those get over it people. I understand it is important to you and what you believe and perhaps clearing your conscience. For me I just believe there are bigger things in life to worry about… People dying from starvation, no clean water, child abuse etc etc.
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Mindfood xoxo
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I think she looks much better in the unedited photo, her skin and hair certainly look nicer. Cute baby too. Shame they doctored it at all, I think she looks great for 7 days after having a baby. I looked like I hadnt slept or washed for a month at 7 days.
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Here Here!! Totally agree with your comments Mia, shame on OK mag. And can I say that the original Kourtney shot is beautiful, she looks fantastic!!
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Not to mention… in the edited photo, she is holding that baby a bit farther away from herself than she should.
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I think this article was so perfect. I am glad you posted it! Congratulations on your blog award nomination! Very exciting for you. Must go look around.
http://www.kaishon.blogspot.com
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OMG. That reminds me of when I agreed to help out a friend and be interviewed by Today Tonight (or one of those) about the latest interest rate rise. Hubby was interviewed too.
Apparently we were not giving the answers they wanted to the questions and so in the end they fed me a line to say. I am embarrassed to say I said this line, just so they would leave my house. This was the only bit that made it into the story. Hubby was left totally on the cutting room floor – he was way too intelligent for the angle they were going for. It was a total fabrication.
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So true. It’s a bit like ‘Right. How much can I pimp out my life to make some cash’. Don’t people have any shame?
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I think it’s a composite. The baby (apart from the photoshopped head) had the exact same position on mum’s arms – I think they photoshopped a different head shot of Kourtney from the same shoot. So in a sense it is a different head!
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I have never purchased these types of mags and apart from the odd Delicious magazine none of the glossier ones either.
I think this article highlights why I hate these mags so much- I loathe the cheesey Aussie celebs who sell their engagement, wedding, honeymooon (looking at you Ada Nicodemu), attempts to get pregnant, pregnancy, birth of said baby and then the obligatory ‘how I got my body back after baby’ story (most hated of recent times is Catriona Rowntree & Susie Maroney). Ugh.
If I buy these magazines I am effectively putting cash in the pockets of these celebs. No thanks, I’ll keep my money in my wallet and buy a book instead.
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I remember Mel Doyle from Sunrise saying she did an interview and photo shoot with her little girl when she was 3 months old, and when the photos were published, they’d airbrushed her little girl…
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Yes its absolutely bloody disgusting and there should be a law against such misrepresentation. What happened to journalistic ingtegrity? Even a tabloid should be accountable to some standards. Personally, I stopped buying female weekly mags about 5 years ago when I noticed the content of staples such as Womens Day and No Idea going down the toilet in terms of honest, un-sensationalist reporting. I put it down to the popularity and immediacy of the internet and the need for those rags to compete with it. Good on Kardashian for speaking out against it, many female celebs would encourage the lie.
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Yes yes yes! That’s what I thought too. How offensive – one week old and he isn’t perfect enough! Thank you Mia for maintaining the rage, and (I never thought I would say this about a Kardashian) thank you also to Kourtney who is conscientiously using her profile to raise a significant issue.
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Like Grumble Girl, I don’t buy this crap. I haven’t bought a glossy mag since the Fergie toe-sucking incident.
And I can see I haven’t missed a thing. I have no idea why anyone would by any of these magazines anyway. It’s all a load of bollocks. Buy New Scientist or something..there’s actually interesting stuff to read in that.
This woman, whoever she is, should sue.
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You sound like you know nothing about blogging. I think you’re way out of line, and offensive.
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Maybe they should change the name of this magazine to OK, WE LIED Weekly
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Keep it coming Mia, I think it’s an important reminder and yay to Kourtney for coming out and telling truth.
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Um, have they re-touched the baby to? The baby’s hands are different in the OK! cover, and it no longer has a frown and its head is in a different position, you can see more of its chin… Not to mention they changed the colour of the little ones outfit to!
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The funny thing is, I genuinely believe she looks better in the untouched photo! She must be furious, good on her for speaking out.
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Does anyone else get the absolute shits when these magazines have a “before” and “after” shot, and the before shot is when the woman is BLOODY NINE MONTHS PREGNANT??? As if her body was a hideous eyesore because there is a baby growing in there?
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I’ve got a story similar TOS. One of my girlfriends won a major charity fundraising event a few years ago and was interviewed by Womens Weekly. She is a very smart, very intelligent, very sharp young thing, and the article made her sound like a complete ditz. She too was “quoted” as saying things she didn’t even say. Makes you wonder why they even bother with getting the interview in the first place. Or why they bother doctoring real photos; why don’t they just create an unrealist image from scratch, instead of mangling a beautiful girl’s body and a cute baby’s complexion??
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The second photo is clearly not a photoshopped version of the first, although probably from the same photo shoot. The position of her head, as well as her hair, doesn’t match. It would be hard to Photoshop the direction someone is facing. Unless they used a different face as well as a body and only the baby is real
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This is disgusting, and really sad. You’re right Mia, most people wouldn’t have thought twice about the re-touched picture and like me would’ve thought it was the original. Kourtney looks beautiful in the original and so does her baby. SHAME ON YOU OK MAGAZINE!
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They gave the baby a tan! That’s so sad… Babies are red and blotchy! That’s just how they are!
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when me and my partner were touring the hospital before the birth of our baby, a women who had just given birth was walking down the hall and my partner was shocked to see that the lady still had a quite visible tummy. He was under the impression it just instantly disappeared after birth! Thank God we saw this women before I gave birth and could set him straight!! I blame the fact that there are is just no mention in the media or general society of what a normal post-baby body, leaving some very confused not so bright other halves
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What a lovely image.
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One of my best friends had her very just post bubby pics on her facebook, and I still love the ones of my sister and my sister in law just after. Women are Fabulous, aren’t we?
I went as a support person for one of them to get a tattoo last week – she said 12 hour labour, no drugs?! And I am scared of this? I said, Pfft, blokes manage this. It’ll be a doddle. LOL!!!
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I meant to comment on this in a previous subject about birth. My sister is a midwife. She used to be a little skinny minny until she had kids. I told her if it was me screaming in agony I would not listen to her holding forth about breastfeeding, natural childbirth without drugs, etc etc. But I digress.
I have been told by her that they try to get women home as fast as is cool medically – some the same day. Most people want to get home, my best friend did. Its the style of the time, kateinlondon. When Mum had us in the 70s, it was still like 2 weeks in hospital with the babies in the nursery! Everyone (My Mum and Aunty and everyone who had 70s kids) seems to reckon its much better these days, having bubby in the room with you and getting home ASAP. I dunno, never had kids.
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Hey Anonymous – I have “good photos” on my fb because I generally just look shithouse in photos! There are very few where I look OK! I just seem to photograph badly, I guess. I had a photo taken of me when I was up in Cairns on a diving trip, and it was a good pic. I said as much – my brother was all “oh, tickets on yourself much?” Er, no, I just seem to look shit in photos and managed to in this one!
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