Cindy Crawford Claims ‘I Felt Blindsided’ By Unretouched Photos

Cindy Crawford claims that, unlike Emma Roberts’ recent, planned unretouched photo spread, she was taken completely by surprise, when photos of herself were leaked to the public. The unflattering picture leaked this past February, featuring Crawford wearing lingerie in a Marie Claire photo shoot, was also plagued by mystery with the magazine first declaring the image “unretouched,” “real,” and “gorgeous,” implying it was intentionally released.

Later, the photographer responsible for the photo of Cindy came forward to say that the image was “stolen or otherwise unlawfully accessed” and that it “is a fraudulent, altered version” of Ms. Crawford.

“I felt blindsided,” Crawford told Elle Canada in an interview. “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.”

Cindy wasn’t the only one affected by the release of the image, which has been maliciously altered, according to Ms. Crawford. Together with Rande Gerber, 53, Ms. Crawford has a son Presley, 16, and a daughter Kaia, who will turn 14 Thursday.

“This is exactly the type of thing that I wouldn’t want my daughter to do to another girl online,” Ms. Crawford said. “It’s social bullying. I’m a big girl and I can handle it, but I used it as a teaching lesson for my own daughter because my kids were like ‘Mom, you don’t look like that!'”

The children had a unique response and, although Cindy was appreciative of their support, she found their response to be a bit too problematic, especially for the current social climate, reported E! News.

“They wanted me to go down to the beach in a swimsuit so the paparazzi would take a photo of me, but that would be playing into it,” Crawford said. “How do I rise above the situation? What do I do? Go on Good Morning America and pull up my shirt and say, ‘I don’t look like that’? That didn’t seem like the right response.”

In the end, it all seems like Ms. Crawford spent too much time worrying over nothing, when one considers the overwhelming positive response the release of the photograph has garnered.

“Sometimes, the images that women see in magazines 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,” Ms. Crawford said. “I couldn’t come out against it because I’m rejecting all these people who felt good about it, but I also didn’t embrace it because it wasn’t real—and even if it were real, I wouldn’t have wanted it out there. I felt really manipulated and conflicted, so I kept my mouth shut.”

[Featured image: Cindy Crawford courtesy of Anthony Kwan/Getty Images for Omega]