Kelly Clarkson and Self Magazine Renew The Airbrushing Debate

There’s a bit of a stir happening over Self magazine’s September cover (which doesn’t even hit newsstands until the end of the month!) and, as you might have guessed, it’s all about Photoshop.

Self’s September cover girl, Kelly Clarkson, looks gorgeous on the mag’s front page. But she also appears to be a slimmed-down, airbrushed version of herself- and that’s where the backlash begins.

Self editors admitted that the photo was retouched and Self’s editor-in-chief Lucy Danzinger even devoted a blog post to the debate, saying that photo editing,” is meant to inspire women to want to be their best.”

“Did we alter her appearance? Only to make her look her personal best. Did we publish an act of fiction? No. Not unless you think all photos are that. But in the sense that Kelly is the picture of confidence, and she truly is, then I think this photo is the truest we have ever put out there on the newsstand,” writes Danzinger.

“Whether [Kelly] is up or down in pounds is irrelevant (and to set the record straight, she works out and does boot-camp-style training, so she is as fit as anyone else we have featured in Self). Kelly says she doesn’t care what people think of her weight. So we say: That is the role model for the rest of us.”

This is certainly not the first time that we’ve had this Photoshop debate- and it won’t be the last. We’d love to see real, un-retouched photos gracing the covers of major magazines, but is it a losing battle? Could it ever happen? What do you think?

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