Julia Roberts in Pieces Over Pic
Screw the diet and Pilates sessions–even Hollywood’s A-list isn’t good enough to grace the covers of major magazines without a major Franken-chop job.
Julia Roberts is the latest celeb steamed at a magazine for messing with her megawatt mug. Roberts, whose appearance in a flick commands $20 million-plus, was the victim of a mix-and-match cover when Redbook magazine slapped her head onto another body for its July issue.
Roberts’ head was allegedly plucked from a paparazzi shot taken at the 2002 People’s Choice Awards, according to a story in USA Today, while her body was borrowed from the Notting Hill movie premiere four years ago. The clipped-together photo is accompanied by a headline that blares, without a trace of irony, “The Real Julia.”
The practice of airbrushing cellulite and stretch marks or tweaking an errant nipple is standard procedure at most magazines that count on their flawless cover shots to woo readers. But the practice of pasting different body parts together is drawing criticism, especially when said body parts aren’t perfectly proportional.
In light of the controversy, publisher Hearst issued an apology earlier this week. “In an effort to make a cover that would pop on the newsstand, we combined two different shots of Julia Roberts. We acknowledge that we may have gone too far and hope that Ms. Roberts will accept our apology.”
That will come as little consolation to Jennifer Aniston, who was the victim of a butcher job on the June cover of Redbook. Her publicist claims the photo was a composite of three different shots, which gives Aniston an oddly disjointed look, and says the Friends star is allegedly considering legal action over the cover photo.
A spokesperson for the magazine denied the allegations to USA Today, claiming only the length of Aniston’s hair and color of her shirt were changed.
Calls to Redbook were not returned.
Other recent cover controversies include the May issue of Seventeen magazine, which digitally manipulated a photo of Sarah Michelle Gellar until her left hand appeared warped and unnaturally long. A thank-you gift placated her peeved publicist. Meanwhile, Kate Winslet’s suddenly skinny legs were the focus of attention when the February issue of GQ hit newsstands. The admittedly curvaceous actress spoke out against the touch-up, urging other women not to be influenced by her digitally altered image.
No harm, no foul.
A creepier example of media manipulation was Time magazine’s darkening of an O.J. Simpson mug shot. In 1994, the news mag shaded the skin tone of the fallen football hero slightly darker making its cover subject appear even more sinister. Time later apologized after being accused of racism.
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