Cindy Crawford Speaks Up About Leaked Stolen Photo: ‘It’s Altered And Malicious’

Supermodel Cindy Crawford has finally decided to speak up about the stolen, unflattering photo of her that was leaked in February.

The leaked photo, said to be untouched, was taken from Cindy Crawford’s photo shoot for the December 2013 cover story of Marie Claire Mexico and Latin America. The photo was posted on Twitter by a news anchor for ITV News in the UK.

In an interview published on the latest issue of Elle Canada, Cindy Crawford asks, “Why would seeing a bad picture of me make other people feel good?”

“I felt that the journalist was inauthentic because she acted like this was great but she didn’t check if I wanted this out or if this was a real picture,” Crawford, 49, said.

When the leaked photo went viral, Marie Claire magazine said it is “real, honest and gorgeous.” The supposedly “un-Photoshopped” photo, the magazine added, reveals a body that defies expectations.

Cindy Crawford’s leaked photo drew a lot of positive reactions from the supermodel’s fans on Twitter. They thought the photo is inspirational, amazing, and beautiful.

In a later announcement, however, John Russo, the photographer for the viral Marie Claire photo, said that the image is a “fraudulent, altered” version of his photograph of Cindy Crawford and that either it was stolen or unlawfully accessed.

“I felt blindsided. 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 thought that picture didn’t reflect what I saw when I looked in the mirror – even in the worst dressing-room lighting,” Cindy Crawford told Elle Canada.

To find out the truth, Cindy Crawford talked to John Russo.

The photographer was said to have been very upset when he talked to the American supermodel, saying, “Cindy, I’m going to send you the real one and it’s nothing like that. It’s clear someone manipulated that image to make whatever was there worse.”

“It was stolen and it was malicious,” Crawford said.

In the interview with Elle Canada, Cindy Crawford said she didn’t address the malicious photo because she felt conflicted between the truth and the positive responses the altered image drew from fans. The 49-year-old model said she was in a bind because she couldn’t come out with the real story without rejecting those who found the photo inspiring.

“I felt really manipulated and conflicted, so I kept my mouth shut,” Cindy Crawford admits.

[Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Omega]