Fact Check

The Real Cindy Crawford

Rumor: An unretouched photograph of Cindy Crawford will be published in the April 2015 issue of 'Marie Claire' magazine.

Published Feb. 16, 2015

Claim:

Claim:   An unretouched photograph of Cindy Crawford will be published in the April 2015 issue of Marie Claire magazine.


UNDETERMINED


Example:   [Collected via email, February 2015]


The un-retouched photo of Cindy Crawford that is currently circulating on social media... is it real?

 

Origins:   On 13 February 2015, a supposedly unretouched photograph of 48-year-old model Cindy Crawford was leaked to the Internet along with the claim the image would be published in an upcoming issue of Marie Claire magazine:

The photograph prompted a wide variety of responses from the Internet, including one of skepticism: numerous viewers doubted the above-displayed image truly provided an unfiltered glimpse of Cindy Crawford. Marie Claire magazine, however, said that this photograph is "real, it is honest, and it is gorgeous":



An unretouched photo of Cindy Crawford has been circulating on Twitter this morning, revealing a body that defies expectations — it is real, it is honest, and it is gorgeous.

While the claim accompanying the photo is that it will be printed in an upcoming issue of Marie Claire, its origins are actually from a December 2013 cover story from Marie Claire Mexico and Latin America. It appears that this unretouched version is a leak.


Marie Claire has announced no plans of publishing this unretouched photograph in an upcoming issue, and Cindy Crawford has not commented specifically on the above-displayed image, but the model did recently opine on the importance of self-confidence:



"I really think at any age it's learning to be comfortable in your own skin. If women would treat themselves with the same kind of love they give to their friends, that would be such a great gift we could give ourselves. What makes you the most attractive is self-confidence. That's what people see."

Update:   While Marie Claire insisted that the photograph has not been altered, celebrity photographer John Russo told a different story to ABC News a few weeks later:



"It has been falsely claimed that this photograph represents an un-retouched image of Cindy Crawford. This is not true. It is a fraudulent altered version of my photograph. I am grateful that this fact has been brought to the public's attention and that corrections are being run in the media."

Last updated:   2 March 2015

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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