New Selena Gomez Pic Called Out for Photoshop Fail

A new photo of Selena Gomez appears to have been digitally altered. (Photo: Twitter)
A new photo of Selena Gomez appears to have been digitally altered. (Photo: Twitter)

Everything isn’t as it seems, especially in La La Land. A new pic of Selena Gomez looking radiant and ready to work again after a long hiatus is getting a lot of buzz, but less for the “secret project” it’s touting than because it’s apparently Photoshopped.

Celebrity makeup artist Hung Vanngo posted this shot of Gomez — who has been on a career break since last year while getting her lupus under control, going to rehab to focus on her mental health, and stealing Bella Hadid’s boyfriend (kidding!) — on the set of an unspecified project last week. She was wearing a red sweater, her makeup was on fleek (those brows and lips!), and the brunette looked ready to take on whatever it was she was tasked with.

However, her eagle-eyed fans were quickly asking what was up with the bent piece of metal over her right shoulder, which suggests the casual, behind-the-scenes image was digitally altered to improve the already gorgeous Gomez’s appearance. Didn’t she look great without it? Was it stretched to give the illusion that her hair had more body? Who knows, but the image, with the metal highlighted, has been shared on Twitter countless times with comments like “Why tho?” and “Cringing.”

Others didn’t know why the Photoshop was getting so much attention when Selena’s lips were much plumper than usual:

The Photoshopping on Vanngo’s post is also curious because in July, he posted side-by-side pics of Gomez with and without editing to show what happens after his work is done. (Hello, airbrushing!) But it seems some work is often done to the “without editing” version too.

We have come to expect Photoshopping from the Kardashians (Khloé had her infamous mirror pic, and Kim seems to have a thick new filter on everything that turns her into a wax figure), but Selena’s fans expect her to keep things more real. She is the queen of Instagram, after all, with 107 million followers. Though it seems she’s not 100 percent thrilled with her social media coverage recently. Photographer Mert Alaş shared a photo of Selena baring nearly all last week. However, the pic was quickly deleted soon after it made headlines.

Hey, maybe Selena wishes that one had been Photoshopped before going up too.