On Friday, TMZ noticed that Andy Roddick looked rather buff in his recent Men's Fitness cover — weirdly, egg-white-and-whey-enzyme- muscle-building-protein-powder-with- a-dash-of-steroids buff. Were those really Roddick's guns, it wondered, or had Men's Fitness indulged in a little Kate Winslet-Emma Watson-Martha Stewart-style photoshoppery? Survey says: Yes! Turns out we got the confirm from the brawny Mr. Roddick himself. Via Towleroad (which has some yummy before and after pics showing that Roddick didn't need any damn help), we nav'd on over to AndyRoddick.com, where the tennis star posted an entry to his blog (yes! Posted an entry to his blog!). Unfortunately, information ain't free, and you need to be a member to read the whole thing, so we'll trust Towleroad for the excerpt:
"I spent the last few weeks in Austin really focused on my training and getting back into shape...but pretty sure I'm not as fit as the Men's Fitness cover suggests...little did I know I have 22 inch guns and a disappearing birth mark on my right arm. I saw the cover for the first time when I landed after Rome...it was pretty funny...I walked by the newsstand in the airport and did a total double take ...I can barely figure out how to work the red-eye tool on my digital camera...whoever did this has mad skills...maybe Rafael Nadal wants his arms back?...if you can manage to stop laughing at the cover long enough, check out the article inside, the photo shoot on the boat was pretty cool..and I recognize the person in those photos..."
Roddick seems pretty good-humored about the whole thing, but really, this is a pretty big violation: Retouching a photo to smooth out some wrinkles is one thing — and done with regularity, obviously — but digitally changing a body part — actually, two — is a completely different story and Men's Fitness definitely knows by now that it's one hulking heavyweight of a no-no. On the cover, no less! More importantly, why does Men's Fitness need to retouch the guns of a world-class athlete? And what does it say about the message it's sending its readers — and whether it can be believed on anything, at all? To whom can readers turn for gun information they can trust?
Not Men's Fitness, apparently, which means that we probably can't trust them on losing the gut, working the glutes, and how to get her back in the sack. And is that really the girl behind the porn? What now can we believe? Maybe if Men's Fitness offered photoshopping tips...
Andy Roddick Responds to Men's Fitness Cover Image [Towleroad]
Checking In From Austria [AndyRoddick.com]
Related:
Pics of Andy playing tennis in Madrid! [AndyRoddick.com]
SNL: Merv the Perv, Andy Roddick Edition [YouTube]