Cindy Crawford Speaks Out About That Leaked Photo, Calls It ‘Malicious’

Cindy Crawford is speaking out about an unflattering photo of her that was leaked to the media earlier this year, saying she felt “blindsided” and calling its leak “malicious,” USA Today is reporting.

In February, following a photo shoot for Marie Claire Mexico and Latin America, a photo from that shoot was leaked to the media. In the photo, the 49-year-old Crawford is seen with wrinkled and less-than-perfect skin.

Cindy Crawford — lawsuit threatened over that bikini pic http://t.co/LFDNanyHD1

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 2, 2015

The photo, while unflattering, also put Crawford in a difficult position: if the photo is real, it reveals that the image she presents of a toned and perfect supermodel is a sham achieved by photo manipulation and retouching. If Crawford insists it’s altered, then she is seen as betraying the people who praised the photo for being real and showing that not all women are perfect.

In an interview for the upcoming October issue of Elle Canada, Crawford explains that she was conflicted about the problems presented by the photo.

“Sometimes, the images that women see in magazine make them feel inferior — even though the intention is never to make anyone feel less. So somehow seeing a picture of me was like seeing a chink in the armor. Whether it was real or not isn’t relevant, although it’s relevant to me. I don’t try to present myself as perfect. It put me in a tough spot: I couldn’t come out against it because I’m rejecting all these people who felt good about it.”

Still, Crawford insists that the photo is, in fact, altered.

“[The photographer] said: ‘Cindy, I’m going to send you the real one and it’s nothing like that. It’s clear that someone manipulated that image to make whatever was there worse.’ It was stolen and it was malicious… I know my body, and I know it’s not perfect, but maybe I have a false body image; maybe I think I look better than I do. I think that most women are hard on themselves. We think we look worse than we do. So I assumed I fell into that category, even though that picture didn’t reflect what I saw when I looked in the mirror — even in the worst dressing-room lighting… it wasn’t real — and even if it were real, I wouldn’t have wanted it out there.”

Do you think that photo of Cindy Crawford is real or fake?

[Image courtesy of: Getty Images/Frazer Harrison]