Photo Manipulation or Body Swapping?
Posted by VickyC on November 25th, 2009

After the initial reports that Demi Moore’s photograph had been retouched just a little too much, comes new speculation that the body in the picture is actually that of 26 year old Polish model Anja Rubik.
This was posted yesterday on Oh No They Didn’t and has spread across blogs all over the web. French Elle even have it on their site.
Demi Moore hit Twitter saying that it wasn’t true – even posting the “original” photograph on her twitter page. An actress lying…? I’m shocked! lol.. No but really, the mini dress looks exactly the same on both of them. I know its the fashion industry and most of the time models are sewn into their clothes to make everything appear perfect, but they shouldn’t look THIS similar should they?!?!

Demi Moore on W Magazine's December Cover in the Balmain mini dress.
On the right, Anja Rubik from the Balmain Spring 2010 Show modelling the exact same mini dress.
What do you think? Same dress, different body? Or same dress different head...?
The black platform stilettos in the runway pictures are HOT! x


Photographer, Anthony Citrano, saw her tweet and challenged the actress saying “$5k to charity if that’s really the original”. Demi has yet to respond…
But there is speculation about this all over the internet. I’d be here until next Christmas if I read through all of it. There are a lot of arguments both for and against this “conspiracy” – that has now been dubbed “W-Gate”
The Huffingdon Post has a poll asking readers what they thing of the photograph, and 72% think that her body was replaced, 19% think that they JUST retouched her hip whereas only 9% think that Demi Moore is all natural.
I don’t know – what do you think? In terms of height, Demi Moore is 5ft 5, whereas Anja Rubik is 5 ft 10.5. I know people come in all shapes and sizes, but their bodies are exactly the same – torso length, etc – despite this height difference. Even their arms appear to be the same length. And as much as I think digital retouching is lying, I think it just has to be accepted as the industry norm now. EVERY magazine does it. Beautiful people sell things – that’s just how it is.
NYmag.com posted this shocking statement: “Our retouching expert notes celebrity heads are often only Photoshopped onto models’s bodies for advertisements”. What do you think of that!?!!?
I kind of see it like wearing makeup all the time. Some people have to wear makeup every waking second of their lives, and unfortunately, when they don’t wear make-up, they feel ugly and horrible. They sometimes even appear unrecognizable! Then think about all the famous people who are made to look flawless in these photographs, so everyday they have to go out done up to the 9s, otherwise they get a whole string of “not so flattering” pictures posted all over the internet and glossy mags. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is. It’s the kind of stuff that causes people to have eating disorders and crash diet for no good reason. And it’s also the kind of stuff that keeps cosmetic doctors, dentists and surgeons in business. Everything has to be perfection.
Honestly, I think that at the end of the day, it doesn’t really make the slightest bit of difference whether or not the body is hers or not, or whether or not it was photoshopped to make it look ridiculous. What can you do about it? Do I think it’s right to photoshop things? No. Do I think superimposing faces onto different bodies is right? No. But I’m not the fashion industry, so unfortunately, in the long run, what I think really doesn’t matter.
OhNoTheyDidn’t – You’ve been Punk’d
Huffingtonpost.com – Photos & Poll
Elle.fr – Post is in French
NYmag.com – Demi’s W Cover Conspiracy
Photoshopdisasters – Believe’s the photo is “original”
Tags: Anja, Balmain, Beauty, Body, Cover, Demi, Manipulation, Model, Moore, Photo, Photograph, Photoshop, Picture, Rubik, Speculation, Spring 2010, Swap, Swapping, Torso, Twitter, W Magazine


[...] New criticism about the cover of W Magazine. Is it Demi Moore’s head on model Anja Rubik’s body? or is it 100% Demi? You decide! [...]