Actress Stands Ground And Negotiates More Clothing For GQ Shoot
Souza was not willing to completely strip off for the magazine. [Photo: Instagram/Karla Souza]
It was only a few weeks ago that Kirsten Dunst admitted to being bullied into stripping off for a shoot when she was 18. And now another actress has spoken out about the pressure on women to shed their clothes to score magazine covers.
Karla Souza, who stars in “How to Get Away With Murder”, has revealed that GQ Mexico expected her to strip down for a cover shoot – but she refused.
“They wanted me in a bra and panties but I was like, ‘I don’t want to do the bra and panties on a bed thing’,” she told E! News. “I wanted sophisticated, fancy, nice and beautiful and sexy, but not that.”
The actress doesn’t wear a huge amount in the shoot, but she’s nowhere near naked. [Photo: Instagram/Karla Souza]
Eventually, after an entire year of negotiations, the magazine eventually agreed to put Souza on the cover on her terms.
That doesn’t mean she didn’t show some skin. Souza sizzles in a bustier and strappy bikini bottoms, but she refused to show any more flesh than she was comfortable with.
Souza stuck to her guns — and still came out on top. [Photo: Facebook/GQ Mexico]
“They had done a lot of the fully naked kind of covers in Mexico,” she said
“A lot of my fellow actresses had done that so that was the magazine’s thing. They said that’s what sells but then they told me my issue sold.”
Souza was happy that her images weren’t heavily edited. [Photo: Instagram/Karla Souza]
Despite taking so long to agree to Souza’s terms, she was happy that the magazine didn’t obviously edit the her figure.
“At the beginning of my career, I did a magazine cover where they gave me boobs that I don’t have, a butt that I don’t have and a waist that I don’t have,” the 29-year-old recalled. “I was appalled. It took me three years to ever be in a bikini again. I didn’t want people to do that to my body again…So GQ did nothing—literally nothing. It was great.”
Souza isn’t by any means the only celeb who doesn’t like her photos to be heavily edited. Zendaya recently voiced her disappointment at excessive retouching, calling out Modeliste magazine’s mistake on Instagram.
The retouched version on the left, the unretouched version on the right. [Photo: Instagram/Zendaya]
“Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19-year-old hips and torso quite manipulated,” she wrote on Instagram.
“These are the things that make women self conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have. Anyone who knows who I am knows I stand for honest and pure self love. So I took it upon myself to release the real pic (right side) and I love it.”
The teenager, who’s already a one-name wonder, requested that the publication pull the image down off of their social media channels and website (they obliged).
Zendaya was far happier with other shots from the shoot. [Photo: Instagram/Zendaya]
She had no complaints to make about these images. [Photo: Instagram/Zendaya]
“We understand that re-touching of photos is a sensitive subject not only in the fashion industry but across all media,” Modeliste magazine shared on Facebook alongside an image of Zendaya on location in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
“Upon reviewing edited images in comparison with the originals, Modeliste Editor-in-Chief, Amy McCabe jointly with Zendaya and her parents made the immediate decision to pull the issue and are working with Zendaya at her request to publish the complete un-edited and authentic images.”
Within 12 hours, Zendaya’s post racked up more than half a million likes and received nearly 13,000 comments. Those who took the time to sound off mostly noted that they preferred the natural image to the retouched version. Shonda Rhimes even joined in on the conversation, simply adding “Yes!” to Zendaya’s tweet.
Magazine Pulled After Zendaya Expressed Disappointment With Extensive Retouching
Kirsten Dunst Bullied Into Stripping Off For Magazine Cover When She Was 18
