There’s no denying that Kim Kardashian is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet... so big that she’s even obsessed with herself! We all try to keep up with the reigning queen of reality TV on a daily basis, and with colossal levels of fame comes the added pressure to look perfect at all times. While Kim does a pretty great job of looking top-notch for television appearances, magazine covers, and even on social media, many have accused the star of altering images in order to make herself look better. Though many celebs have been guilty of releasing photoshopped pics, Kim Kardashian has probably been caught in the act more times than anyone else. Whether she was giving herself a bigger booty, a smaller waist, or just trying to achieve aesthetic perfection all together, Kim has obviously edited her image on multiple occasions ...and the world was quick to catch on. We know you want to see them for yourself. So here are 15 of Kim’s notoriously photoshopped photos.
15 Shrinking Waistline
Back in 2014, Kim made headlines for posting a throwback photo on Instagram that wasn’t quite all it was cracked up to be. The snapshot was of Kim wearing a skin tight white mini-dress that was taken at a 2010 at a red carpet event. The photo prominently displayed Kim’s pert posterior and famous physique that was curvy in all the right places. Kim shared that she was using the photo for inspiration to get back in shape following the birth of her first child, posting the caption “Throwback to a few years ago #SkinnyDays #OnTheTreadmillRightNOW”. Though Kim was trying to commemorate a time when she thought she looked better than ever, she would have been a lot better off using a picture that wasn’t so heavily photoshopped. Looking at the image Kim posted on the left, compared to the original image on the right, it's super clear to see that the photo had been manipulated to give the star a slimmer midsection and a more bountiful bottom. Even the zipper on the back of her dress seemed to have magically disappeared. Kim received tons of backlash for posting a photo that was so blatantly altered (especially when the original was so easy to find online). To this day, this picture goes down in history as one of Kim’s most notorious photoshop fails ever.
14 Mirror Selfie Mixup
Kim didn’t seem to have learned her lesson after her first big photoshop blunder, and she found herself as a target of media scrutiny for a second time in 2014 for poorly photoshopped photos. The star posted a pic on Instagram that showed off her body in a signature mirror selfie. If you look at the image initially, everything seems pretty normal, right? Well, everything was totally fine… until Kim was photographed by paparazzi later that day wearing the same outfit, looking much different than she did on Insta. There’s no doubt that Kim still looks incredible in the paparazzi shot, but it’s clear to see that she is much more voluptuous in the candid photo than in the selfie. Kim shamelessly made her waist and hips much smaller that they are in real life and thought that the world wouldn’t notice. Unfortunately for Kim, all eyes are always on her and someone was bound to spot the differences between what’s real and what’s not so real in record time.
13 A Complex Situation
It’s no secret that magazines often edit photos of models and celebrities, but they have long been under fire for creating a false expectation of beauty and promoting that idea to millions of girls around the world. In 2009, Kim Kardashian posed for Complex magazine, and an unretouched image from her shoot accidentally ended up on the mag's website. While most of us wouldn’t have given it a second thought, the image was quickly replaced with a heavily retouched version upon discovering the slip-up. Soon enough, side-by-side comparison photos of au natural Kim vs photoshopped Kim surfaced online, which caused a bit of an uproar. When comparing the two photos, it’s abundantly clear to see that someone smoothed out Kim’s thighs, minimized her waist, and even made her arms slimmer. Surprisingly, Kim put a positive spin on the situation and embraced her unedited image. The star took to her website to give the world a piece of her mind, saying, "So what? I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn't? How many people do you think are Photoshopped? It happens all the time! I'm proud of my body and my curves, and this picture coming out is probably helpful for everyone to see that just because I am on the cover of a magazine doesn't mean I'm perfect." We definitely loved Kim’s honesty and her refreshing outlook on loving her body the way it is.
12 More Mirror Madness
We totally live in a digital day and age, so it’s no surprise that some people feel tempted to edit themselves in photos when it’s so easy to do these days. In possibly one of the most memorable (and most controversial) photoshop situations in recent years, Kim got busted big time for digitally altering her figure after posting photos of her and Blac Chyna showing off in front of the mirror. Kim just can’t be trusted with a cell phone and a giant mirror, so, of course, she snapped some shots of herself and her friend posing and putting their rear-ends and abs on full display. Kim must have thought she was looking super amazing because she posted a series of photos to social media. Almost instantly, Kim became the target of media scrutiny for photoshopping the images before pressing “send." It doesn’t take a detective to notice that certain elements in the background are totally distorted, such as the curved door and floor pattern. Kim flat-out denied using photo-editing apps on her pics, calling the allegations “photoshop lies.” Sure… whatever you say, Kim.
11 Vanishing Arm
At first glance, this seems like a super sweet photo of Kim enjoying a night out on a boat in Cannes with her BFF Jonathan Cheban. But if you take a closer look, you might notice something strange about this photo. You know, like the fact that the better half of Kim’s right arm has mysteriously disappeared. This picture was also from 2014, and we’re hoping that this photoshop fail was the last straw and she finally decided to fire her retouchers once and for all. After posting the picture on her Instagram account, the star received an outpouring of comments from fans who pointed out that her arm was awkwardly missing in action. This time, even Kim was confused by the edited image, and retorted with the caption “Ummm where's my arm lol." This was a classic case of photoshopping gone wrong, and it goes to show that editing your images isn’t always the best option. At least Kim fessed up to the obvious flaw and made light of the situation, but the picture still stands strong as one of Kim’s most notoriously photoshopped pics of all time.
10 Desert Photoshoot
Last year, Kim got down to her birthday suit and posed for a desert photo shoot where she wore nothing but stripes of white paint. In all fairness, Kim looked phenomenal in the eye-catching photos, but after the images were published, an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians aired that documented Kim’s day of modeling, and fans quickly pointed out that Kim had been photoshopped. One fan took to Twitter and posted a side-by-side comparison from Kim’s spread next to a screenshot from an episode of the reality show and it totally went viral. As you can clearly see, Kim has been digitally slimmed down in the second image, and everything from her waist, to her arms, and even her face have been made to appear thinner than they really are. The revelation caused a bit of an uproar online, but if you look at the screen-grab, Kim still looked pretty good if you ask us. She didn’t even need to be photoshopped at all… but what can we say, that’s show business for you.
9 Breaking The Internet
In late 2014, Kim Kardashian set out on a mission: to break the internet. Yup, the reality star’s goal was to both shock and intrigue and to send World Wide Web into a total frenzy, and she basically succeeded. Kim posed for the cover of Paper magazine where she bared her infamous backside for millions to see. It was super obvious that the cover shot had been edited to make Kim’s waist slimmer and her derriere larger, but the real image altering happened within the spread of the magazine. As you can see, Kim is posing with her exaggerated backside pushed out, and it’s anything but all natural. It’s abundantly clear that Kim’s rump was made to look much bigger than it really is, and the mag even added a champagne glass perched on top of her tush for good measure. All in all, Kim took her career (and her dedication to Photoshop) to whole new levels for this shoot.
8 M!*f Money Music Video
Earlier this year, Kim made a cameo appearance in Fergie’s music video for the song “M.I.L.F.$”, where she showed off her exceptional hourglass figure. Anyone who has seen the video knows that Kim’s waist to hips ratio was out of this world and many accused the star of seriously photoshopping her midsection. It doesn’t take much to realize that Kim’s figure looks rather distorted, but Kim insisted that there was no Photoshop used on her during the making of the video. Fans pushed back saying that there was no way that that was her actual body, but Kim claimed that her shapely physique was the result of a corset and waist training. Kim even went as far as to release pictures of her squeezing herself into insanely tight undergarments to make the look come to life. While there’s no denying that a corset can help make a person look really thin in the middle, there’s just no way that Kim isn’t guilty of using the magic of Photoshop here as well.
7 Kardashian Kollection Lingerie Ad
Kim is best known for showing off her famous figure in bikinis, lingerie, and even in the buff, so it’s safe to say that we all know what she’s supposed to look like. In 2012, Kim and her sisters modeled some lingerie from their clothing line during an ad campaign shot by well-known photographer Annie Leibovitz. If we’re being honest, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe appear to be the victims of some seriously bad photoshop in this promotional image. It’s super obvious that the ladies were airbrushed and edited to the point of ridiculousness, and Kim looks especially out of sorts. It almost looks like they pasted Kim’s head on someone else’s body, as her head is super unproportionate to the size of the rest of her. Not only that, but it looks like the person responsible for editing the photo took three individual images of each girl and sloppily glued them together. This pic looks more like really bad fan art rather than a professionally shot campaign, unfortunately.
6 Kardashian Kollection Swimwear Campaign
In 2012, Kourtney, Khloe, and Kim modeled their swimwear collection which was about to be released at Sears. Their line of apparel (aptly titled “Kardashian Kollection”) was a big move for the girls, but after taking one look at their ad campaign you clearly see that something is amiss. For starters, those who observed the campaign photos knew right away that all three of the sisters were airbrushed to an absurd and unrealistic level. Of course, Kim took center stage in this shot, and she looked pretty much flawless. Her waistline was photoshopped perfectly slim in comparison to candid photos of the star in a bikini that surfaced around the same time. None of the girls have a single hair out of place and they look almost too fake for words. To make matters worse, Kourtney was actually heavily pregnant with her second child at the time of this shoot, meaning that they digitally removed her baby bump all together. There’s no doubt about it, this is one seriously photoshopped picture.
5 Midori Ad Campaign
Back in 2012, Kim Kardashian signed on to be the face of Midori Melon Liquor’s new ad campaign. Kim was already a highly-sought after celeb at the time and her fame was only rising, so it makes total sense why they chose her to endorse their brand. Kim’s face is super recognizable…or at least it usually is, until she was airbrushed beyond recognition for the company’s advertisements. After taking one look at the ad, you might wonder if you’re actually looking at Kim Kardashian or a caricature of the star. Let’s be completely honest here – everything about this image looks totally phony. Kim’s entire face looks like she’s a cartoon character and even the drink she’s holding looks like it was edited into her hand. Everyone knows that Kim is beautiful without all of the photoshopping, so we’re pretty confused as to why Midori would go to such extremes with altering Kim’s image. This ad is definitely not a good look, and it’s totally fake looking.
4 Kissing Kanye
At this point, it’s safe to assume that pretty much every picture that we see on Kim’s social media accounts has been retouched in one way or another. Even if the changes are really small, Kim always makes sure that she looks absolutely perfect at all times. In 2015, someone from Kim’s crew accidentally uploaded a picture of the star kissing her rapper husband while attending Kendall Jenner’s 20th birthday party. Soon after, the image was removed and replaced with a visibly Photoshopped version, and fans took notice. The changes are super subtle, but Kim actually had a couple of rogue hairs from her high ponytail airbrushed out, and it also appears that she slimmed down her jawline. The changes are so minuscule that you might not even notice the difference between the two photos at first glance, but trust us, this pic has been making the rounds online as one of Kim’s many notorious Photoshopped pics.
3 Tabloid Trouble
It's super common for magazines to Photoshop photos (especially for their cover shot), but when OK! Magazine went as far as digitally changing the color of Kim’s clothing. The reality star had to put her foot down. The issue was released and it is very easy to see that Kim is airbrushed from top to bottom. Photo editors made Kim’s waist and hips smaller and they also added on tons of makeup to the star’s already glam look. If you look at the original image, you might seriously wonder why they even bothered Photoshopping in the first place. To complete Kim’s drastically altered look, the mag even turned her grey crop sweater blue along with the hue of her skirt. Kim wasn’t a fan of the magazine’s decision to edit her look, and she took to Twitter to share her feelings on the matter, saying, “BTW tabloid…please don’t photoshop my clothes! If they photoshop my clothes who knows what else they tweak.”
2 Spruced Up Selfie
Kim Kardashian is definitely The Queen Of Selfies, and she’s so into getting the perfect shot that she dedicated an entire book to her cell phone shots (ironically titled Selfish). Kim does her absolute best to ensure that she always looks fabulous... because, after all, her entire career is based on her image. In this pic, we have to admit that while Kim looks great, she just doesn’t look real. It seems as though she has an unnatural glow going on in this shot like it has been airbrushed and put through several filters before being posted to Instagram. Even the star’s hair looks like it has been retouched over and over again, and her nose looks like it has been faded out. A gossip magazine recently claimed that Kim hired a personal photo retoucher for a whopping $100,000, and though it seems super far-fetched, if anyone would hire their own pro-photoshop wizard, it would totally be Kim Kardashian.
1 All About The Angles
Kim certainly has come a long way with her use of Photoshop in the last few years, but there isn’t much that can get past inquisitive fan’s eagle eyes. Last year, Kim posted the photo on the right to Insta as a “throwback Friday” shot with the caption “had to post this pic also [because] this angle is everything!!!!!” While we know that everyone loves the power of a fabulous angle, we’re unsure if Kim is telling the whole truth. Compared snapshot on the left, Kim appears to be visibly more petite in her version of how she looked that day. It looks like there has been some Photoshop action on her midsection and on her upper arms to give the appearance of a slimmer figure. Kim has openly said that she loves her bountiful curves, so it’s super confusing when she tries to conceal them. This one is too close to call, but even Life & Style magazine believes that this is just another instance where Kim used photoshop to make herself look better. We’ll let you be the judge here.
Sources: Mirror.co.uk, Lifeandstylemag.com
