If there's one thing that people can't get enough of, it's 'unretouched' photos of celebrities. Whether they're obtained by nefarious means or not, there's something about the sight of a celebrity without make-up or retouching, or even just pulling an unflattering pose that is of infinite interest to the general public.
In recent months Beyonce, Cindy Crawford, J Lo, Kate Moss and even Justin Bieber have fallen foul of the curse of the 'leaked' photographs. The whole thing is quite scandalous; sometimes the celebrities or their 'people' claim the photos have been doctored, other times they embrace them, sometimes the they try to get them taken down but no matter what, whenever they pop up they never hesitate to cause a stir.
People put the popularity of the unretouched photograph down to different factors but for me personally I think it comes down to one thing and this is simply a comforting reminder that these people are human after all.
These days celebrities get put on a pedestal more than I think they ever have in history. In the internet age the general public are more likely to consume and the then dispose of their pop culture fix much more quickly than 20 years ago. For this reason the marketeers have decided that celebrities need invade every facet of our lives in order to stay relevant. Imagine walking through a shopping centre - you can hear your favourite artist on the in store radio, go and pick up their fragrance, read their autobiography, see them on the cover of numerous magazines, look at your phone and see news stories are about them and maybe even buy their clothing range. It's just impossible to escape celebrities in this day and age.
Working in the modelling industry I'm in a somewhat privileged position because I see the models warts and all ( literally sometimes!) before the make up artists and retouchers have got their hands on them. Even the team at the agency get shocked when we see how amazing the models look in their photographs! I assure you all that models are NOT perfect - they have the same problems as the rest of us. For those of you who've never been on a shoot I assure you that there is a veritable army of people on hand who's sole job it is to make the model look perfect!
But I will be the first to concede that it's easy to forget that these gorgeous models and celebrities on TV and in advertising campaigns don't look like they do in real life and it's comforting for people to be reminded of that. A celebrity with cellulite or bags under their eyes is a nice reminder that they are the same as us at the end of the day. So I say celebs should embrace leaked photographs and remind the world every now and again that they are human too!