Kudos to Cindy Crawford! (even if the photo was released without permission). For years women have been inundated with photos of celebrities 8 weeks after giving birth, looking “JUST AMAZING”. These photos are usually taken with the amazing mom in a gown; her abdomen is rarely shown. Mere mortals compare themselves and fall short. Finally, the truth is out in a big way. The ridiculous degree of photo-retouching by magazines is now blatantly obvious and understood by American women. Industry insiders know that celebrities who age ‘flawlessy’ with no sign of intervention are, in many cases, having small, consistent, undetectable injectable and other treatments such as Botox to keep their faces looking fresh. Because they look so natural, they have plausible deniability. But this denial affects the self-esteem of everyone else, who are not aware these celebrities are not aging “naturally”.
The same impact on self-esteem happens when retouched photos are published. And almost all published photos are HIGHLY retouched. No one, including the super model, can live up to these false standards. The Crawford image sends a potent message. Undoubtedly there were many people on the photo set that day. And Crawford, with her beautiful but less than perfect self, radiates confidence and is sexy, powerful and, yes, gorgeous as a result. Thank you to a very beautiful woman, Cindy Crawford, who showed that beauty is more than skin deep and, in doing so, raised the self-esteem of women everywhere more than she will ever know.