Thanks for clearing it up, ...
This is everything I detest about magazines
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?
[thanks Bugmum]
Oh, and just for the record, THIS is what most women look like in the days after giving birth.
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Kim Kardashian was photoshopped. The sound you just heard was me being knocked over with a feather.
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I am in love with this photo
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!
she looks lovely in the original. wish they would show the true beauty of women in these magazines.
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…
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think she looks So much better in the real picture. Soft, glowing, full of gentle love.
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.
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)
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.
**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!) . . . .
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!
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.
Mindfood xoxo
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.
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!!
Not to mention… in the edited photo, she is holding that baby a bit farther away from herself than she should.
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
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.
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?
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!
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
You sound like you know nothing about blogging. I think you’re way out of line, and offensive.
Maybe they should change the name of this magazine to OK, WE LIED Weekly
Keep it coming Mia, I think it’s an important reminder and yay to Kourtney for coming out and telling truth.
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!
The funny thing is, I genuinely believe she looks better in the untouched photo! She must be furious, good on her for speaking out.
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?
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??
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
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!
They gave the baby a tan! That’s so sad… Babies are red and blotchy! That’s just how they are!
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
What a lovely image.
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!!!
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.
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!
I don’t have Foxtel, but I read the mags, and they all refer to it. Wasn’t she the “fat one”? And lost a bunch of weight but then got preggers?
I thought she was the “fat funny one” of the Kardashians (who are they anyway?) and then got hitched and preggers really fast. Either way, good on her for saying NO NO NO this is what the real story is! One of my best friends is munchkin short, and weighed the same as me (way taller, and allegedly according to the bullshit BMI, Obese. So not. Anyway.), and she has got back down to her weight NEARLY 2 YEARS after having her bubby! My little sister was always really skinny, like really skinny. Called Bones by the fam. She has 2 7 year olds and a 5 year old. She also now has boobs and hips. And a bit of a tummy. having kids changes you!
you’d be lucky if you got a night if you were here in the UK – if you have it before 12, you’re usually out the same day! I had a c-section and was out in 48 hours – bit different from the 6 days the first time in Australia…
oh my GOD! that is an extraordinary thing to do!
I can’t help but see these sorts of covers in the grocery stores and such, but I cannot make myself part with my money, spending it on this obvious trash. I go for the home decor magazines only. Le sigh. It’s the obvious photoshop-lies they tell that are so infuriating. Don’t believe the hype… don’t feed the machine either. If there were no buyers, they’d stop printing this garbage. Meh. It’s scandalous, actually. Shame!!
For a hilarious editor’s reply to similar nonsense (the Kelly Clarkson cover on Self a while back) check out http://www.self.com/magazine/blogs/lucysblog/2009/08/pictures-that-please-us.html
Reading through the comments at least most people call her on the BS – to claim that you are just trying to show someone’s true beauty is an absolute crock.
thanks lottie..experiences with bub no. 2 were a lot rosier and exercise went out the window of a long time so i totally get where you are coming from and luckily for me bub no 1 is now a 3 and a half year old treasure (most of times – ha!)
Likewise appalled.
What I don’t understand is when this became magazine-worthy. When I was a kid looking over mum’s mag’s, I don’t thik this would even have been a story, let alone cover story.
Why are magazine editors obsessed with portraying women who have no physical evidence that they carried a baby for 9 months. I did, and you know what – these pathetic mag covers do influence people’s expectations. It was often the first thing people said to me… Oh you look great, you don’t even look like you were pregnant. WHY is that great? WHO told us to think that was great? Bloody stupid magazine editors – that’s who!
I had a Girlfriend tell me (5 days post partum) well when you are ready to lose the weight… here’s my trainers card… I had just lost 12 kgs… and thought I looked positively slender compared to just a week previously!
I you just described my experience too lisa
Will look into that one, thanks!
Thank-YOU La Petite Chou! What a beautiful story. I bet you look gorgeous.
I just printed my pic out. It’s going on the fridge!
Too true TeddyBear. So sorry you had a challenging time. It’s definitely not all rosy at my place either and I wouldn’t like to think I had painted some sort of perfect baby picture. Aint no perfection here!
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I agree that she looks absolutely lovely in the original picture. In fact I think it looks a lot better than the retouched photo. I never read any women’s mags any more. I find them so inane!
Not me….
Thanks for your honesty. Being a mum is hard work, and sometimes it’s shitty. We often think we should try to do everything and naturally no-one can – not even a brilliant super woman.
Why do we do it? I can tell you, it is the most rewarding, intense and meaningful thing I have done in my life. You have a tiny baby and they seem to stare into your eyes for ages in their first days of life. The first few months are hard work, but your little person smiles at you a lot, they laugh, they babble… Before you know it they are a funny, cuddly, emotionally explosive toddler… you get the picture. Every stage is challenging but, generally speaking, there are many more good moments than bad.
I am sitting at the moment watching the tennis with my 16 year old daughter, laughing, “oohing”. We talk about school, her friends, my work day. Husband is playing guitar with our 16 year old son with the 8 year old watching. My kids drive me nuts sometimes – but I wouldn’t change a thing
What’s wrong with the original pic…that’s how you look after just giving birth!…she looks beautiful! Keep it coming Mia, this is a great post and don’t you even think about moving on!
I am as equally disgusted as Mia & many of you who are also posting comments. It seems that NOTHING is believable when printed in the media anymore. I know alot of the celebrity goss stuff is just complete fabrication, but you at least expect photo’s to have some semblance of reality, but not so it seems. Even the little baby’s arm skin colour has been altered – apparently it was too redish, instead of a beach tan brown!
the good thing is that at least people are making others aware of this fabrication of peoples looks & lives so those of us who wish we could photoshop ourselves into looking more perfect don’t try to use these false images as anything to aspire to
As a photographer, I can tell you, nothing goes out unaltered, because EVERYONE has something they don’t want to see…dark circles or bags under the eyes, wrinkles, zits, moles, or warts…even the glamourous movie stars have them, and if you don’t believe me, I can show you the work required. The lights alone are mind-boggling. I draw the line at excess poundage. I try to pose people in a flattering way, and I won’t “shave off” anything. They can do it at the gym if they like, but I think it’s cheating. We need to all eat healthier food, exercise if we can (all you CFIDS folks, I feel you) and QUIT DISSING PEOPLE who are overweight.
I’m disgusted. I’m sick of magazines telling us lies and making us feel terrible if we’re not up
to ’standard’. I’m a 17 year old female and I’ve been brought up with so much fake perfection it’s just
not funny. Birth should be a beautiful thing and it’s inevitable that women are going to gain weight, who cares!? Thery have a beautiful child in their arms and should be too happy and busy to worry so much about that weight straight after giving birth.
Show us real inspirational women, not the computer generated.
Hey theres nothing wrong with Jackie Collins! hahahaha
I understand the point you were trying to make, but I wouldn’t equate her to a gossip magazine at all. She might write many books about hollywood etc but she is a decent writer. Whereas I find the writing in some of these magazines substandard like you said quick cheap trash.
I know that’s off topic, but what can I say. I was a closet Jackie fan…. until now……
I have to give you a pat on the back for being honest! Thats something I think of in the back of my mind too.
and ps the first pic is WAAAAY nicer and warmer…
the airbrushing of this pic gave me the shits! i could not believe it! outbloodyrageous..OK should be ashamed of themeselves…so glad she spoke out about it as i am sure many celebrities would be tempted to let sleeping lions lay (is that the expression?) anyway, thanks for bringing to our attention…
hi young vintage, bellies like people are all different, mine went down straight after birth, not sure why? so you weren’t that far of the mark…
I guess it depends on the magazine and who does the interview. I was interviewed by T.V week once and they only printed quotes I directly said.
Yes I noticed the baby as well (I mean how could you not!)
They even erased some of his little baby skin creases/wrinkles.
Its like the proverbial cherry on top of the shit sunday.
i hear what you’re saying but for some people, myself included, exercise helps with post natal anxiety so should not be dismissed altogether..i honestly think it kept me sane in those crazy months as I had baby with reflux and it was the only time i could get a break from the endless crying/screaming…not all mothers are having a wonderful time with their babies…
Am I appalled Mia?
Yes. I’m right behind you on this one.
I am with you Mia on the topic but must say am liking the fact that some celebrities are speaking out. The more this happens I think the stupider the magazines appear. Why change a photo like this if the changes are going to be outed as soon as the magazine hits the stands.
my body is the same as it always was even though i’ve had 2 bubs..we’re all different..i think it really comes down to genes, healthy eating, exercise etc. My point is don’t be too worried about body changes because for heaps of mums they’re minimal…
Kourtney looks so much more beautiful in the untouched photo. She really does. I’m just worried for that child being born into that family though. I see therapy in his future . . .
To be honest – I read them because when I don’t want to watch a movie or read a funny book, it’s a quick and easy laugh. My mother buys one of the weekly magazines and we have endless amounts of enjoyment making fun of the stories – many of which seem to be built around a candid photograph taken of a person. Should a paparazzi shot be taken of Bec Hewitt in a moment when she dares to not smile, she’s lonely, depressed and wants to leave Lleyton. If Jennifer’s frowning in a photo, she’s pining for Brad. If little Suri happens to be crying, it means she’s a bratty, unhappy little girl and if Katie looks tired it’s because she’s miserable with Tom. They’re ridiculous and unbelievable and in their own way, funny – simply because I don’t understand how they can create all of this rubbish out of a split second caught in time.
In a similar vein, when a friend of mine had her first bub, she packed her pre-pregnancy clothes to wear home from the hospital. She just assumed she would be back to normal after the baby came out. Hysterical!
Good on Kourtney for speaking out about this and giving us the real facts. I think she looks beautiful in the original pic, much more so than the photoshopped version.
I love that all these real vs. altered images are being exposed lately. I never believe any image I see in a magazine or a website anymore! Thanks for helping keep it real Mia.
To PixeM, Lottie and Abam: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Haha… my God. The things your poor mums went through for us.. You’re awesome!! Thanks for teaching me something new – I can now add hemorrhoids, double hernias and keloid c-section scars to my list of things to fear about pregnancy
Thanks for putting it into perspective too, LPC. The human body is pretty damn amazing huh..
Frankie – I love you for admitting that – because it’s something I totally would’ve done if I had’ve given birth before seeing Mia’s post (and more importantly, picture) about Jools Oliver.
The issue of your stomach not returning to it’s previous size, pre-baby was further cemented last year when I spent a lot of time at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and saw literally hundreds of women walking out of hospital with their newborns still looking quite pregnant. Yay! Although, I couldn’t help but slightly cringe and feel sorry for them as they walked very, very slowly and carefully.. x
Good on you Mia, I have emailed this link to a whole heap of mums and asked them to forward to all their mum friends, lets spread the word XX
I noticed the photoshopped baby too, not just its hand but the angle of its head too! That is even more insane than photohopping the mum.
The original photo is so much nicer! You can actually see the warmth of the motherly cuddle that you don’t get in the 2nd shot. The baby is resting on thin air, rather than its own personal pillow! Isn’t that what the post baby belly is all about?!?
OMG PixieM. As if you needed that with a newborn. How good they just went away. Just another thing nobody mentions hey? But then again, I didn’t know the right questions to ask BC. Even if I had asked the right questions, not sure if anything would have made much sense.
Lucky we have beautiful babies
’nuff said…it’s pretty pathetic when we have gotten to the point that it’s not ok for a mom to have a soft, one week postpartum (or for that matter, one year!!) belly. It’s time for some real women to speak up and say, “I’m okay with the fact that my body doesn’t look like that of an 18 year old anymore. I actually… like having a (insert age here) body. It’s beautiful. It’s evolving. I love it.”
Far out, Original Susie, that’s unbelievable! Amazing that they bother to interview people at all.
I hear in some cultures, all the women in the family gather and dote on the new mother. She rests in bed for up to 6 weeks healing and bonding with her bub. How did we get so far off track as a society!?
A relative of mine is a minor celebrity. A few years back she and her husband were interviewed by New Idea after she gave birth to their first child. The journalist came to their house and they had the obligatory “family photos” taken while the journalist spoke to them both about their new baby etc etc etc.
A few weeks later the story was published. She couldn’t believe what they printed. They just made stuff up! They put quotation marks around totally made up stuff. They quoted the husband saying all sorts of things that he didn’t say. JUST MADE IT UP! After that I remember the whole family just being shocked that even a story where the person involved is interviewed and gives permission for stuff to be printed about them and have their photo taken, they STILL MAKE STUFF UP.
Benjamin Franklin once said ““Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” He obviously didn’t anticipate photoshopping…..
The pressure is intense & it has to come from somewhere. One of my friends sent me a photo a week after she had her twins. I excitedly opened the envelope and it was a photo of her in her pre-pregnancy jeans, not a baby photo. I did get the baby photo, but later.
I’m in the good on Kourtney camp, and I don’t even really know who she is!
Don’t be embarrased YV, I took my size 8 jeans to hospital when I had my first baby, because I thought it might be quite nice to wear them again. Even though I had put on 21 kg, and only had a 4kg baby…….I had NO idea & it was quite a rude shock! (Those jeans wouldn’t even fit me now, 8 years later!!!) xx
Hi Mia
The other day I was browsing the magazine stands at the newsagents – and suddenly something struck me..
Rather than paying attention to the image on the front covers, I found myself looking at just the headlines of what stories were inside, before even noticing who was on the cover!! It’s like my mind has been trained to ignore the photos now…
I really think it’s because of the message that mamamia and the body image advisory group keep putting out there – so please keep up the good work, and keep highlighting the hyprocracies such as the one above – as long as they keep doing this, we all need to be reminded that it’s completely false and misleading!!
Lottie, the agony peaked about six weeks after the birth of my second….to the point where I had booked in to have them surgically removed (which I believe is truly a trip down screaming agony lane) and then……they started getting better, for no particular reason and I was no longer having to poo through what felt like 10 bloody razorblades…worse then the worst labour pains I reckon. And nothing helped, not those silly donut cushions or the cream, or meditation, or special drinks or…geez, I’m breaking out in a sweat just remembering. TMI, sorry girls!
I cannot STAND the “my body after baby” stories that these magazines continue to churn out…it has gotten to the point now that when a female celebrity has a baby and is interviewed afterward, the focus of the story is solely on her body, her diet, how she lost half her body weight by surviving on water and air for a week….GRRRRRR. Nevermind that she just gave BIRTH to an actual BABY, and is now a MOTHER – the baby is just a side story to the ‘before’ and ‘after’ baby body pics. Which, as OK magazine has just shown, are not even real anyway! I am just so glad that Kourtney spoke out about it
Me too about the mag thing. Have you read ‘Brain Food’? It’s a goodie with no crap. I think it’s a NZ mag. Cleo put me onto it!
Pixie M – did they go away afterwards? I’ll hear your hemmroid story and raise you a double hernia! he he!
Disgusting! Good to see Kourtney speaking out though….so many stars sell the lie.
Makes you wonder if the mag editor who approved the cover has had any kids of her own…
Or my keloid c-section scar. Now that is attractive………
Aaaarrggghhhh!!!!!!! Photoshopping and the obsession with perfection is just so infuriating!!
Very luckily, I have 3 children and with each pregnancy I have gained approximately 25 kilos. Yep, that’s about double the average. Admittedly I do feel gross at times because for many months I can’t fit into anything but my maternity clothes which I can’t wait to burn.I just fall in love with my baby and enjoy her and the adoration of my partner above the need to get back into shape. Fortunately I find that breastfeeding works as a form of liposuction and know that with some sensible eating and regular exercise I’ll get back to a healthy weight. The hard thing is when other people comment. My favourite Q is: when are you due? After I’ve had the baby! Hmmmph! The trouble is too many people are insensitive and don’t think before they speak.
Celebrities on the covers of magazines are not helping the rest of us as society gets on board with what’s being displayed as normal.
Readers make a stand and boycott these trashy poison filled mag’s. They should soon get the message.
Just to put things in perspective for those who may not be aware. At the time you give birth, your uterus is the size of a rock melon. In addition your abdominal muscles have relaxed and you have massive fluid retention. Most women look, at best about saeven months pregnant immediately after the baby is born. The best advice I wever got was from my doctor who said, ‘It takes nine months for you to grow, and another nine months to get your body back, and each journey is the biggest change your body will go through.’
And we do it two or three or four times.
Agreed! I stopped reading fashion and gossip mags when I was 16. The only time I read them now is in the doctors waiting room, and that’s enough to remind me of why I stopped.
I honestly don’t understand why women buy into this crap. As a child my parents, although I was always a cute kid, put emphasis on my mental abilities and encouraged me to be well educated, have a career. I guess it helped that my mum was a bit of a tom boy. Therefore, fashion and make up and femininity was never high on my mothers list of life lessons to teach me.
Now when I look back I am sooooo glad she didn’t!
Apathy is one of the worst things in this world. Just accepting things the way they are. That’s something my parents did teach me. Mia… you have my support 100%
The real question is how can we convince a nation of women to stop buying these magazines?!?!!??!?!
Oh Yayayayayayay Lottie!
Your lovely post reminds me of my favourite post-baby body photo. It’s taken of me just 3 minutes after giving birth.
After 27 hours of labour, and still unable to move my legs after the epidural, I have taken off my T-Shirt and am completely naked except for a bed sheet over my legs, resting on pillows and bringing my baby to my breast. I am euphoric – red faced, massive bed hair, bleary eyed and completely blissed-out, proud and euphoric. It’’s love writ large and I’m hugely impressed with myself.
That’s what it’s about. It’s about not giving a flying fig what others think of your body. Your body has done amazing, miraculous, life-giving things, not once but twice, three times, more. Oh for the magazine that tells it like it really is.
It’s the most beautiful photo I’ve ever had taken of me. Thanks for reminding me that I have it.
Ooh, I just LOVE feisty Mia!
Keep up the good (and very important and relevant) work!
And don;t you love how PROUD HE looks in the photos…just luvly.
Haven’t read all the comments yet, so sorry if I’m repeating….
But they even photoshopped the poor little baby’s right hand! That infuriates me.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it – if they don’t want people to look like real people, they need to get an illustrator in. Not a photographer. At least then we would know it’s fake.
And shouldn’t they be required to check with the person in the picture before they completely change the way they look?? Or the way their baby looks?
“why cant we get magazines to state where there is an air brushed photo whether by a sentence on the cover or a symbol representing the fact that it has been enhanced”
This is part of the body image initiative that Mia is involved in…wouldn’t it be great!!
Even having a shower is a huge ordeal. After my first c-section I was too scared to get my stomach wet for ages because I thought it would hurt and – somehow – that the stitches may fall out if they got wet and my stomach will pop open. Weird I know..
I’ve stopped buying trashy mags. Even though I KNOW it’s just photoshop it still makes me feel bad and inadequate. The message is still that we are not good or beautiful enough naturally.
me too – it look me a while to realise that this creeping dissatisfaction I had with my life/body/clothes dissipated when I stopped reading this crap…even though I am intelligent person (well, I think reasonably so!) who has worked in advertising and knows that none of this stuff is real!
These mags are now relegated to the lying on a beach part of my life…mmm, that reminds me…when will I get THAT part of my life back?
My New Year’s Resolution was to stop buying trash mags. I am going really well (haven’t purchased any!) and this silly story just gives me another reason to keep going. Whilst I could care less about Kourtney & her baby etc etc, I am glad that she has spoken out (Twitter is good for something it seems…). After having a baby, the good majority of women have big, jelly tummies and for me, gigantic milk squirting boobs. This is the reality and all people, men & women should be more aware of it. We need to stop worrying about wearing a bikini and just bloody well look after the children we are so lucky to have.
Glad to hear that the MM community is sorting out the realities from the gloss for you young ‘uns….anyone want to hear my story about the agony of haemerrhoids? …….anyone? (including how I can’t spell them)
Something really similar happened to me over Xmas. At a family wedding my Dad commented that C had “stacked the weight on since her last saw her”. I had to remind him she had a 3 month old baby. He replied – surely she should have lost the weight by now…
“Getting her hair washed and dried and makeup done, all on the same day, is a huge achievement only a week after birth..”
Even if she had help..this is still SO true…I don’t think I was even out of the house by then!
I read them *blush* They’re like Maccas – quick, cheap, satsifying trash. Just like the Jackie Collins hidden behind the Booker prize winners, its an addictive indulgence we aren’t supposed to admit to in sophisticated company…
That said, I don’t take it seriously and someone who analyses every word or picture probably needs their head read…
My body definitely changed too, way more than I knew to expect.
And not necessarily for the better.
But psychologically I feel better about my body than ever before. Not elated, but just…relaxed.
A healthy pregnancy, safe delivery and successful pregnancy has done wonders for body image. If anyone chooses to judge my body negatively or harshly now, that’s their problem!
You will make your own choice of course, but don;t give this aspect of it too much weight (pun unintentional – sorry!).
A baby will change will change your perspective on so much in your life, in ways you cannot yet imagine!
Guys.. I’m embarrassed to say that I had no idea either. I’m 22, with no kids of my own – and I don’t have any close family or friends that I’ve spent a lot of time with during/after pregnancy.
It wasn’t until I read the post about Jools Oliver – showing the post-baby picture of her – that I found out. Me and my sis (who had also read the post) had a big long chat about it. She couldn’t believe that I thought your stomach would quickly return to it’s pre-baby size…
I also got a big shock when I read a post Mia did a while ago, which included a photo of Kate Winslet’s post-breastfeeding boobs from a movie she’d recently been in.
So –
#1 Thank you Mia!
#2 Thank you to all of you lovely ladies (and men) who are so open and honest about these issues
If it weren’t for you guys, I’d be walking about still completely ignorant with my head up my ass… xx
Spot on TRS. WHO is buying this stuff? I don’t get who would be interested.
(Sorry am going off like the proverbial frog in sock today)
its not all bad, my figure changed for the better, my boobs took on a fuller shape which didnt change after breastfeeding and i gained some hips after birth which made me feel more curvy than i was before.
not every one looks like jules after giving birth. everyone is different. i had bad morning sickness that went on for ages so lost a heap of weight early on in the pregnancy resulting in me wearing a size 10 pair of jeans out of hospital carrying a 9 .5 pound baby.the cons of this were , i felt extremely run-down,tired and i caught every cold going around . i was constantly told i was too thin, ” you are feeding your baby ,eat .” thats all i did was eat.i was always starving …so it can sometimes work out the opposite to what you are led to believe….
i’m glad you brought this up, a couple of weeks ago i was at the library looking for a pregnancy magazine as i looked at the coverlines i was disgusted. This was a pregnancy mag telling women how to lose weight 5minutes after giving birth, i am pregnant now and love seeing the amazing changes of my body , considering you are developing a baby in your womb and it takes nine whole months you would think people would care more about the fact that you had delivered a happy and healthy baby and how you are bonding with your beautiful child as opossed to getting back into pre pregnancy jeans. we already are under enough pressure to be so called super mums;sexy, a good wife, a good mother,gourmet meals every night, a buissness woman we don’t need to feel like we have to be back to an unrealistic weight so soon after pregnancy, apart from how ridiculous it is its not healthy
Guys.. I’m embarrassed to say that I had no idea either. I’m 22, with no kids of my own – and I don’t have any close family or friends that I’ve spent a lot of time with during/after pregnancy.
It wasn’t until I read the post about Jools Oliver – showing the post-baby picture of her – that I found out. Me and my sis (who also read the post) had a big long chat about it. She couldn’t believe that I thought your stomach would quickly return to it’s pre-baby size…
THANK YOU for posting on this. I NEEDED THIS as a mother of three!!! I’m so SICK of it!!! THAT’s RIDICULOUS.
To be 100% honest – I’m 24 soon and unsure if I want to have children of my own one day.. For a lot of reasons. The majority of reasons aren’t superficial. Yet – some are.
Having children would change my body forever. I feel so much pressure as a young woman already, pre-baby. I can only imagine the pressure I’d feel post-baby… Women posing in bikinis and declaring they’ve got their pre-baby bodies back just after giving birth aren’t helping…
Women have it tough.
Agree, expectations on new mothers is out of control, 18 years ago when I had my daughter I wasn’t exposed to any of this … I put on 20kgs and I just let it come off naturally … I think it took about a 8 months to a year!
But these magazines are so bad in so many ways – I think more work needs to be done around educating people on the fact that hardly any of the stories are true !
Famous, New Weekly, Who & even Grazia are printing complete and utter bullshit – I love how they can take a celeb photo and build a whole story around it – what the celeb is doing, thinking, saying.
“Brad texts Jen – I want you back” “Reese tells Jake she’s not ready for commitment” “Britney tells Jason, marry me or leave”
I mean seriously – why would these celebs or anyone around them share this personal information with a gossip mag ? It’s not just the photo’s that are fake, the words are fake too ! We need to stop buying them !!!!!!!
And yet ‘us women’ are the ones who keep buying those magazines….
Exactly. For me it’s also about not wanting to miss anything my beautiful new baby is doing! Sure I miss my waist-line now and then, but I can always go back to exercising etc Baby Lottie will only be a baby for a very short time and I don’t want to miss anything! (she is asleep right now
)
Absolutely! She has that glowing thing down pat. I’m more impressed by that than anything else – 3 years post last baby and I still look like the walking dead!
Yes, what I also think is weird about this is the expectation about what women will be doing post-birth – as if they will be going to the gym, running marathons or depriving themselves of food on diets…as if slimming down will be a woman’s priority in that very special, but exhausting time after the delivery of a baby! I remember after having my bub I could barely get off the couch. And I thought it was the case that women – regardless of whether they had a C-section or a vaginal birth – weren’t suppose to do any exercise apart from gentle walking for at least 6 weeks??? I think it is dangerous to advocate that women should be doing anything but resting and enjoying their new baby!!! The world has truly gone mad!!! Thank Mia for bringing this to our attention!
Oh this is definitely one of my soap boxes Mia… I have addressed it as best I know how here:
http://bushbabe.blogspot.com/2010/01/laugh-lines.html
and here:
http://bushbabe.blogspot.com/2009/05/bb-classroom-whats-real.html
WHY CAN’t WE JUST BE REAL anymore??? No wonder kids are messed up about body image. I helped out at our tiny local school teaching kids the basics of Photoshop and used the examples in the second post linked above. It shocked the teachers as much as the kids – we MUST learn (and help our kids learn) how to detect the bulldust being pedalled…
BB
I saw this story yesterday and it made me so incredibly angry. How dare they not only fabricate the photo but also the accompanying story!! This is the reason I hate these magazines too. They are so deceitful and treat their readers as idiots. For what it’s worth I think the original photo is 10 times more beautiful than the bastardized one! This is trully apalling behaviour by US OK..
Exactly. Anyone who is looking at her weight gain and not her beautiful, happy face and gorgeous baby, is missing the point. That first pic makes me think about having another one already…
And this is why you can’t rest up Mia – four more enlightened girls right there. Good on you!
Total tangent but isn’t this the truth? I’ve read somewhere (can’t remember where, for a surprise
that it’s a conspiracy (the things they don’t tell you) cause otherwise people wouldn’t keep doing it – and while I wouldn’t go that far, it has stunned me the basic stuff they don’t tell you. Like the fact that you’re supposed to stay in hospital for a few nights after you have your baby – I was out the next morning on an “early release” (read: we need your bed for someone else) and it’s only preparing for my second that I’ve found out generally people stay in for four!! That’s four whole nights I could have actually learned something from other people’s experience rather than guessing and trying to channel Robin Barker!!
Hear, hear Mia. Let’s keep exposing the lies and putting egg on magazine editors’ faces. No wonder they declined to comment!
And Jools Oliver? As her husband would say “Luvly chubly”
I’ve never eaten as much as I did in hospital. I used to wolf EVERYthing they gave me down and had my husband bring in extras for non meal times.
No one ever tells you that when you give birth either. There are so many furfies (sp?) out there!
Mia, you’re like a big bullshit radar.
I love it!
They AREN’T THE SAME PHOTO. Clearly they’ve slimmed her down, changed the colour of her clothes and it’s from the same photo session, but I’d like to see the original photo before I saddle my high horse.
I’s also like to point out that this ‘celebrity’ released the photos a fortnight ago with no fanfare – wonder if this is to generate interest in her brand?
I was one of those women who lost the weight INSTANTLY, as in, when i went to leave the hospital I had to get my husband to go home and get regular pants because my maternity ones fell down. I weighed 3kgs less than I did before pregnancy. The secret? Vomit up everything you eat for the last 6 months of your pregnancy, so even at full term you have a prem baby (classified by weight) who has to sleep in a bed with you because it’s the dead of winter in New Zealand and they’re in danger of losing weight if they get cold. Not all of us diet or exercise, some of us were just unwell (and small to start off with).
I’ll take the mummy tummy next time thanks!
I didn’t realise either, until I read Mia’s book. Thanks for telling us the truth so that we don’t feel crap when we end up looking like this.
wowzaaaaaaaaaa, this is bullshit. i have always watched the kardashians and found them entertaining to watch,.
i wouldnt have thought any of the sisters would speak out and say their photos have been re-done [ not re-touched but actually completely re-done]. good on her for speaking out about it. the after photo looks sterile compared to the natural shot .
im glad you mentioned [men] in your post Mia because i think they are the most clueless when it comes to photos and this also adds to pressure for women to look perfect.
my husband was in disbelief when i informed him that the pretty ,smooth skinned , glossy women in all the mens magazines have been airbrushed with in an inch of their bikini line.
he was shattered to think that one touch on a computer could erase stretch marks, hair,pimples etc…..
mia, why cant we get magazines to state where there is an air brushed photo whether by a sentence on the cover or a symbol representing the fact that it has been enhanced.
this is seriously getting beyond a joke now…
I suppose that the editor who okayed this cover was just trying to sell magazines, Mia. I’m halfway through reading your book and I have to say that the line ‘it was my job to sell magazines’ is an oft-used excuse to justify various objectionable covers.
Call me strange, but even her new born baby seems to have been ’slimmed down’ in the photoshopping process!! terrible!
Ah bless Jools Oliver – for ten months I have been trying to lose weight after having my baby which has been virtually impossible as I’m still breastfeeding… and still like to indulge in banana bread once a week. I’m not prepared to diet strictly as I want to continue breastfeeding for a bit longer but I do get disheartened when I see women who have flat tummys so quickly after giving birth – I guess they had them before they got pregnant – still when i look down I think “maybe when I stop breastfeeding it will go flatter”… In the meantime I’ve just done a boot camp so at least my fitness is improving and hopefully when I stop breastfeeding it will just come off… maybe, ah well I can but wish! I’m not usually disheartened by images in the magazines as I’m aware of photoshopping etc, but when they target mums I do get annoyed as it isn’t always easy, weight doesn’t just “drop off” everyone when they’re breastfeeding or just pushing around a pram and when the images aren’t even real that’s ridiculous – I think Jools looked glowing and the before photo of Kourtney was lovely too. Shame of OK magazine!
I think Kourtney looks far more beautiful in the original photo – why they would want to distort her photo is beyond me – keep up the good work Mia!
An interesting thing happened to me at Christmas time. My husband and his brother were looking at a photo of their cousin holding her newborn baby. He was born a week before Christmas.
She was sitting on her hospital bed, looking like a normal woman who has very recently given birth.
My husband’s brother asked if this was a photo of her holding the baby boy she had just had or if it was her second child. We looked at him, totally confused because we all new this was her first child and that she had just given birth to him. We asked him what he meant.
He thought that because she ’still looked pregnant’ in the photo that it must have been one of her holding a baby she had had previously (without his knowledge!) and pregnant with the next one.
He couldn’t get over the fact that once she had the baby – she didn’t immediately look as she had before pregnancy. As he said, as we all marvelled at his comments, the only women he had seen that just had a baby were celebs in magazines and ‘they all look normal’ !!!
you’re a wise woman kateaswell
Keep up the good fight Mia!
I know I feel silly too! Oh well at least we have Mia to set us straight. Have a good day
I have been boycotting magazines such as this for a long time now because they are full of absolute crap. I have defected to the “Homey” ones like Home Beautiful, House and Garden, Country Style etc. because I am so sick of the photoshopping and bullshit in the trashies. I used to like WHO magazine but they have gone down that road in recent years also.
I agree with everyone that the first photo is much more lovely – she actually looks like a mum in it, and as someone else said “Not using baby like it was just a prop handed to her”.
Amazing that it takes about 6 weeks for a womans uterus to shrink down to its normal size (with breastfeeding) and in this photo she looks like she never even had a baby one week ago.
Also there is a reason mothers gain some weight in pregnancy – it is called having enough fat stores to be able to FEED your baby!
It sickens me to think that lots of poor women will think that it is normal to be back to pre-pregnancy weight in a week or a month. This is dangerous and frightening to women who have eating disorders – seeing these botched pics will just instil in some mothers that their bodies are not natural and you too can look like this if you follow special baby diets.
Arrrggh!
I’m exactly the same. An only child, and haven’t had children. I already didn’t know that most still look pregnant after giving birth…. that’s ridiculous that I thought that.
Mia thanks for the reality check. I don’t know if I am like most who have not had children yet but it is nice to see what you really look like after to giving birth than being really disappointed when you don’t look like your old self before pregnancy. Thank You!
I actually think the first picture is much nicer! She looks a lot prettier before the photoshopping.
Hey Christy – the “oh it just fell off while I was breastfeeding” line really gives me the shits! I can tell you that I was breastfeeding 2 babies at the same time for 8 months, and by no means did my weight plummet. And I was starving ALL THE TIME. Enjoy your small person and good luck in keeping breastfeeding going x
this makes me so angry i can’t even put it into words. these tacky gossip mags are full of lies! in their words and pictures. it’s time for this to be stopped!
Incredibly tedious stories for sure. Keep up the great work Mia, and I too love the photo of Jools. Thats exactly how I looked after my third baby, for a looooong time, and I had 4yr olds to 40yr olds telling me I still looked preggas!! After I pullled the knives out of my heart I realised I was just too tired to care and I had to work with what I had. Plus my chubby little 3rd baby, affectionately known as Bhuds (Bhudda) was just so incredibly loving toward me nothing else mattered. Lets rely on our fem chant “women united will never be defeated”. Lets stick together on this and nurture each other, this is a great forum to support each other.
I hope Kardashian sues the *a** off Albert Michael of StarTraksPhoto.com. AND the magazine for the exclusive without her permission. I’m totally with you on this one Mia, and why should we ‘get over photoshopping because it’s a fact of life’…it’s not a fact of life, its simply a magazine trying to sell as many copies as possible.
Thank you for posting pictures of what ‘real women’ look like after having a baby
I am quite ignorant about all things babies and pregnancy, so I wouldn’t know how long it takes to lose weight after having a baby, but if all I had to go on was this picture and other pics in the media showing this sort of thing, then I could quite easily believe that it’s quite a simple and straightforward thing to expect.
Isn’t life hard enough at times with all the usual things, e.g. example problems with health, money, bills, work etc., without having this added pressure of trying to live up to what we incorrectly think is normal. It’s okay to say that we should ignore the mediam (I try to and don’t buy magazines!) but I don’t think we realise how saturated we are with it all, and how much it really affects us all on a daily basis.
Hi Christy,
Congratulations on your little boy! The early months are such a roller coaster, I hope you are coping with the ‘downs’ ok, and loving the ‘ups’!
With my first baby, I gained 23 kg, and it did come off quite quickly (and despite my nonstop eating!) during the first few months of breastfeeding. Second pregnancy I gained the same amount of weight, and it was only when I stopped feeding after 12 months that the last few kilos disappeared. Be kind to yourself – your body is doing such important work at the moment, just stay healthy and go with it. There’s plenty of time ahead to worry about appearance.
I’m now back to more or less my ore-baby weight, although I still have a bit of roundness around the tummy which reminds me of that miraculous experience, growing my beautiful children and bringing them into the world.
All the best, and be proud of yourself. What you’re doing is amazing, no matter how many inches around your belly right now.
x x
I tweeted about this yesterday.
It’s disgusting!
Have they reglued her head on too? It’s at a different angle and doesn’t convey the loving, tender feelings to her baby that the original does nearly so much.
Retouching is one thing. This is outright fraud. Not ok, OK!
from what I can gather, she is famous because her father (deceased) was OJ’s lawyer. And her sister made a sex tape. Seriously, this is what passes for celebrity these days. It’s awesome.
Hi Christy,
I was exactly like you when i was breast-feeding – I was starving all of the time. My first bub was tiny and a few weeks prem and she was feeing every 2- 3 hours around the clock, the second had recurring ear infections and loved to either feed or suck a dummy to relieve his sore ears, the third – well, as the pediatrician said a few days after her birth “she is perfect but a bit scrawny. Take her home and fatten her up”.
Some women lose weight feeding but, not many people know that many women actually put weight on. While you are taking care of a little person you need to cut yourself some slack and these magazines and stories like this present distorted images of womanhood.
Just another way to make us feel bad about ourselves so that we buys more mags that say they know the secrets to weight loss, beauty, sex lives….
It is all such bull shit!
See? The reality is not awful. The reality is actually quite lovely, kind of…lush and fertile looking. I’m so glad the original picture came to light. A little less self-flagellation by even one new mum would be a great outcome!
OMG, they even photoshopped her baby!!! I can’t believe that mags can get away with this – if I was Kourtney, I would be taking action!
Wow. I’m usually veering towards the ‘eh, Photoshop, whatever’ line. But that’s when a model’s handbag has been digitally removed, or a zit’s been airbrushed out. And I do think people need to learn to distinguish between photoshopping that’s acceptable and the kind that really isn’t.
In this case, it CLEARLY isn’t! What were Ok! thinking?? And actually making up a baby-weight story to accompany the faked pics? Did they think Kourtney would be fine with it? I am utterly appalled.
Hey Christy, my baby girl is now 19 months old. A few months in, I felt exactly the same as you – I think the “running around thing” kicks in when you’re trying to get them in and out of the car and supermarket and doctors and friends’ houses etc etc, and when they grow up a bit more and start moving around independently (dammit
For what it’s worth, my experience was it took six months after birth to even remember my own name, and after that when I got some small idea about what the hell I was doing, I could start having a bit more of a healthy diet and exercise routine. Try to cut yourself some slack – where you are can be a really hard time, and you’ll resolve your weight stuff over the coming months. Congrats on the birth of your baby boy xxx
Oh seriously, this is just repulsive.
LOL no worries!
Remember the photoshopped pictures of Martin Bryant’s eyes on the cover of … The Age (I don’t remember exactly, sorry) and the hoo har over that? This isn’t any different (aside from the possessed by the devil appearance)..? I agree one hundred percent with what you say.
She’s from an american reality show “keeping up with the kardashians” not shown here, unless maybe on pay tv.
Her sister Kim Kardashian is the most famous. What are they famous for? Not really sure, other than being on this show. But now several of the sisters are either married or dating pro football players in the USA, so are WAGs as well.
On a personal note, its been 2 months since the birth of my son. I’m trying to lose weight, but despite what celebrities say that “breastfeeding and running around after a baby makes the weight fall off”. All I can say is I’m ravenous all the time, and if running around is sitting still whilst b/f and rocking/jiggling a baby… well it ain’t falling off that is for sure.
might not be the exact photo , but it’s the same shoot for sure…
Mia, Thanks for exposing the truth about this photo. I’m speechless. The OK cover is awful and even poor baby Mason has been given a tan and a change of clothing. It’s not right and magazines need to stop doing it.
My favourite photo of me was taken first thing last Christmas morning after a very long night with my then 11 week old baby. She is asleep on my shoulder. I am still in my huge front-opening-for-feeding nanna PJs. I used to be photoshopped for a living, yet it is this photo that I love. None of my photoshopped images are on facebook. This one stands proud. This one is of the real me, really smiling.
Normally I run from a camera. Am not one who likes being photographed or recorded (despite aspects of my former career) Don’t normally talk about this stuff much either. Just had to this time.
It took a very long time for me to arrive at being comfortable being in my body after child-birth the first time (and I still have fugly days, of course) I suffered, silently mostly, and struggled with my post-baby body after baby number one, now three years ago. It seems so naive to me now, but at the time it was a very real and horrible feeling. To not want to be in the body you are in. It almost took the shine off new motherhood. I know how vain this may sound, but I don’t think it is that simple.
Somehow, I didn’t know just how much my body was going to change. Actually, I had no idea. How I missed that bit, I don’t know! But I did. It’s not spoken or written about much, and mags, like this one don’t help.
So Go Mia! And thank-you on behalf of anyone who will end up more aware than I was of what really happens after child-birth.
On a lighter note, baby Lotte, (Christmas morning baby and now 4 months), has been a whole different experience in so many ways. A second baby is by nature different, of course, but the big difference is in me and how I feel about me. Now, I just don’t care. Genuinely. I am so surprised to be able to say this and mean it. Not to mention relieved.
I got to this point on my own. Paying NO attention to images on mags etc is easy to avoid if you just decide to not notice. It’s an active process.
Now, I am back to the old me, but in a different body. I am now the proud inhabitant of a body that has made two more bodies, and a brain that says, if you don’t like how I look, don’t look!
Yep. Even the baby has been slightly changed!
AND they changed the colour of his clothes AND his hands
“Credibility” – from OK magazine (or any women’s magazine, for that matter)??? Seriously?
“Immorality”… really? Does it go so far against society’s moral compass? Making D-list celebs look thinner on magazine covers?
As you can see, I’m a little incredulous at how this continues to be an “issue”…
As a 20yr old who doesn’t know many pregnant women I actually never knew what a post-baby body really looks like. But thanks to Mia and this website I now know.
I was just another naive magazine reader, so thank you for continuing to bring this to everyone’s attention
She looks much better in the original shot – much fresher and happier.
Thanks Mia, For bringing this to our attention (again), Like yourself I am sick to death of photo shopping in Magazines, especially when some young ladies compare themselves to the false images portrayed in these magazines.
Besides, It is actually not a healthy thing for you or the baby to lose too much weight too soon after giving birth!
Well Done Mia! Keep it up!
keep talking about it mia, i want to hear it and be reminded of how false these photos are.
one of my resolutions this year is to NOT buy any of these magazines, and try to avoid reading them all together. i know there is a direct link between how i feel about myself and reading these magazines.
“…they didn’t have an exclusive with me…” because I’m quite willing to prostitue my new baby to anyone who waves $5 in my general direction…
um sorry, who is this woman? I presume she’s some kind of “celebrity”? what is her claim to fame?
OK! magazine – ? NOT ok.
Mia, keep talking out. I don’t think it will change magazines – you know better than most of us that if it didn’t sell, they wouldn’t do it. But the more it is discussed, the more women will be aware of how we are being conned and will be better equipped to protect our heads from being done in by this stuff.
She looks absolutely beautiful. Getting her hair washed and dried and makeup done, all on the same day, is a huge achievement only a week after birth.
They’ve pretty much drawn the whole picture.. her face is rotated more towards us than in the original and her body seems rotated more away from us (as well as skinnier, of course).
Yeah good on her for being honest about it – now if only we could get Nicole Kidman to admit to the Botox & skin resurfacing….
This is disgusting. I’m glad she spoke out about the fact she hasn’t lost her baby weight yet. The best advice I received when I had my baby was that it took nine months to put on, so it should take nine months to come off. Way to make women who have just had babies feel inadequate, OK.
I remember when leaving hospital after the birth of my first baby I was upset because I couldnt wear my pre baby jeans. I had packed them into my hospital bag to wear home. I should have been happy that I had given birth to a healthy 4 kilo baby. But I was more concerned that I couldnt squeeze back into size 10 jeans 7 days after giving birth. Magazines like this are responsible for the ridiculous expectation that this is possible. The before shot looks normal and would make many new mums feel happy. The after shot will make most new mums feel like complete failures.
Be honest – for those of you on facebook and the like, I wonder how many of you only publish the “good photos” of yourselves. Who hasn’t woken up & looked in the mirror and wished for a bit of airbrushing. Lots of people I know said “oh how fabulous to see Bianca Dye with her pot belly etc, SOO much more REAL” as they take another swig of their lemon detox diet drink. I’m over skinny, I’m over fat, I’m over the whole body thing altogether. We’re an uhappy, critical, jealous bunch at times regardless of what we’re looking at. If we’re not picking apart someone’s weight we’ll find something else to criticise them about.
Oh, righto. Can you tell I’m posting while watching the tennis? Probably…
People should just vote with their wallets. Don’t give mags like OK any oxygen / $, so to speak.
As if there weren’t enough ways to make a woman feel inadequate, OK magazine is now perpetuating the myth that you can lose 20kg in the several days after having a baby. Way to go, OK. Can’t say I’ve ever bought you, but now there’s not a chance I ever will.
Meant to add that I’m curious to see if the Australian version will us the US cover story in it’s issue due out tomorrow…
Opps … That should have read NOT of HUGE significance like HAiti …..
Is celebrity news not considered news? For news stories there are no media laws as such – but there publishing codes / standards and ethics. The ABC, The Australian etc all have a code of ethics.
What would happen if a war or earthquake was photoshopped. What if it was made worse than it actually was to make it more interesting to sell MORE magazines??? Isn’t altering any form of news wrong. Considering the role of the media is the fourth estate – to bring to light the truth and be a watchdog. It seems to have done a 180.
No matter what the news is – is should be reported as truthfully as possible.
Although I do not agree that sources should be named – but sources should not be made-up. It is up to the owners / publishing companies to print stories that have a basis of truth. Otherwise should they be classified as fiction?
I know it is celebrity news and of a huge significance like Haiti – however stories like this can have a HUGE impact on mental / physical heath in our society.
enough with the bashing magazines with stories/pictures like this, and congratulating them when they show fat, wrinkly, big stomached ‘real’ women.
So she didn’t give an interview or approve any story, they photoshopped the cover from a photo that they presumably paid for from a 3rd party … how can this magazine exist with any credibility. Isn’t this fraud, false representation, ugh, my brain hurts just thinking about how wrong this is on so many levels. Kudos to Kourtney for speaking out at least on Twitter but it would be great to see a law suit to really hammer home the immorality of these publishers.
Get some balls Hollywood!!
So disappointed about this as I have to confess that I often buy OK & thought it was one of the less trashier weeklies. Obviously not.
This is so ridiculous. It’s one thing to photoshop to change the colour of the dress but to use photoshop to completely change her figure & make the story about her body is straight out lying and completely warped.
WRONGITY WRONG WRONG WRONG!
http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/australia-bans-small-breasts/
I cannot believe they also find it acceptable to photoshop a baby!! They have changed the color of his skin and the shape of his head- ITS A BABY!
But once again, OK magazine has no credibility- no shock there.
Great work uncovering this hoax, great that she spoke out to tell the truth and I agree that she looks better in the before shot, she has a really beautiful face which is spoiled in the ’shopped one …..
This really is disgusting. What on earth do magazines editors think they are doing when this put this kind of thing on the cover? It is so wrong. As if there is not enough pressure on women (especially those who have just given birth) already.
It’s really really good that Kourtney spoke up about it. Other celebrities don’t seem to notice/care.
The fact that Kourtney wants to portray a realistic image, not only for women, but for herself is a step forward against this issue.
Well it’s very comforting to read the whole story anyway. It’s a good lesson in not believing everything you see these days. This enables normal, ordinary women – like me – to feel just that. Normal. It is normal to feel like a large, semi-set jelly 7 days after birth (especially, as in my case, with twins). It is normal NOT to have a waist for quite some time. And it is completely NORMAL to be far too busy and sleep deprived to even think about working out!!!
I am a gossip mag junkie. But tonight I have decided I am going into magazine rehab. I’ve just had enough of all the crap. Not only can no story be trusted (with the exception maybe of WHO), but now it seems the pictures cannot be trusted either. But the real idiot is me, becuase I buy the stupid things.
By the way, Kourteney looks better in the before shot – she looks like she actually gave birth to the baby, rather than just borrowing one as a prop. I was sick for the last bit of my own pregnancy and I was quite thin after giving birth – I looked like a fraud! I love the look of a new mum with all her mummy curves.
Good on you, Khloe, for speaking up. As for the team at OK Magazine – &*() ^&*() !!@#$$$%% – you’re just plain irresponsible and if you were working in any other industry you would be fired for misrepresentation, dishonest actions, etc. Please keep on this bandwagon, Mia. You’re doing a great job keeping this at the top of everyone’s agenda.
Thanks Mia, I am really glad that you are keeping on with your mission against this kind of ridiculous image. Don’t let up, we do need sane voices like yours in the media. x
Umm permanently twenty three, did you read what she said? She didn’t do the photo for this magazine at all, so how would they have had discussions about photoshop?
Anyway I think it’s a disgrace that they are doing this & good on you Mia for bringing it to light once again.
TOTALLY appalled! This is unforgivable! They should be ashamed. No wonder bulimia and anorexia are rife.
I just can’t get over how 7 days after the birth, this woman thought ‘Hey, let’s just pose on the cover of a magazine. Great idea!’
My. Worst. Nightmare.
Also, isn’t there a conversation at some point with the editors of these mags before the shoot? So you can iron out issues like ‘Ok, so are you guys going to photoshop me or what?’. I find it hard to believe that this isn’t discussed.
Grrrr….