The moment fans caught a reality star noticeably photoshopping her four-year-old daughter.

You know who doesn’t need photoshop? Anyone. But also four-year-old girls.

But when 40-year-old Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak-Biermann uploaded a photo of her four-year-old twins Kaia and Kane to Instagram on Tuesday, fans noticed an uncomfortable detail.

Initially, it looked like the background of the image, particularly next to Kaia, was distorted – a telltale sign of people’s proportions being manipulated. Then Zolciak-Biermann’s eldest daughter, 21-year-old Brielle Biermann, shared the same photo to her Instagram story, with one noticeable difference: it was unedited.

Here’s the original:

And here's Zolciak-Biermann's version:

The Instagram account @thegoodthebadandthefake shared the photos side-by-side, highlighting the way Kaia's nose and bum in particular had been photoshopped. "4 years old!" the caption wrote. "This is sick!"

Many followers called out the blatant problems with editing photos of your very young daughter. "And American society wonders why young girls are objectified and sexualised.., " said one user. "Horrifying," wrote another.

Almost immediately, people started commenting on Zolciak-Biermann's photo on her Instagram, criticising her decision to photoshop. "You can see the bend in the wall from where you were EDITING a photo of your children who are perfect on their own," one person commented. "Your daughter is going to be so messed up in the head because of you. Poor thing."

It's not the first time the reality TV personality has been caught photoshopping photos of her kids.

Just two weeks ago, Zolciak-Biermann shared a throwback photo of her 16-year-old daughter Ariana when she was a child.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A young @arianabiermann ????

A post shared by Kim Zolciak-Biermann (@kimzolciakbiermann) on Sep 10, 2018 at 11:24am PDT

But, as spotted by Babe, in 2016, the mum-of-six had posted the same photo.

When the images are side by side, it becomes clear that in the later version, Ariana's lips have been edited to look bigger. It's estimated she's about three or four in the photo.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Picture on the wall in my house!! @briellebiermann @arianabiermann time has just flown by! ???? #MySweet❤️s

A post shared by Kim Zolciak-Biermann (@kimzolciakbiermann) on Jan 30, 2016 at 4:25pm PST

Why. Are. You. Photoshopping. Pictures. Of. Your. Children.

Babe theorised that Zolciak-Biermann might have been trying to do Ariana a favour, after the 16-year-old was accused of having lip injections. Perhaps her mum's photo was an attempt to suggest Ariana has always had fuller lips, and hadn't recently had them surgically enhanced.

Kaia, on the other hand, hopefully isn't contemplating/getting any cosmetic procedures given that she's four.

So why edit her face and body when sharing a photo of her to your 2.8 million followers?

Unfortunately, the appearances of celebrities' children aren't immune from online criticism. Comments about their weight, eyebrows, skin colour and clothing choices are rife - to the point where some high profile mums might feel pressure to edit photos of their kids to protect them. But what message does that send? What happens when you're caught out? What does your daughter think when she notices?

It's also worth noting that Kaia's twin brother, Kane, hasn't had any of his features edited.

It's a terrifying thought that the objectification of girls' bodies could possibly start as young as four - an age where they're typically blissfully unaware of the beauty standards that will be imposed upon them in the years to come. An age where they haven't yet been trained to think about size or shape or prettiness or bums or noses.

But if photoshopped images of four-year-old's are making their way onto our news feeds, it's time to have a serious discussion about why.

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