Rachael Leigh Cook Talks Weight Gain, Anger Over Photoshop

Rachael Leigh Cook is angry about how magazines Photoshop images of celebrities, and she talked about the impact of unrealistic images on young girls last week at at the at the Healthy Media for Youth Summit in DC.

The 'She's All That' star also told Fox News about her own struggles with body image and food issues. Here are a few excerpts, read more here.

On images in magazines:

"Nothing that you see is real, even if you look at what looks like a candid photo of someone, anything can be done. It is false advertising and false advertising is a crime so why isn't this a crime? I'm just up in arms about it. People need to know that there are actual lenses that are put on cameras that make people stretched out."

On weight gain while filming 'The Babysitter's Club' at age 15:

"I remember gaining quite a bit of weight on the first movie that I worked on because, 'hey, free food!'. You're at that stage where your body is just changing so actively, so it was a natural change, but I remember finishing that film and realizing that I had gained probably 10 pounds over the course of filming which is a lot when you're only 5'2."

On developing food issues as a result:

"You're looking for a sense of control, and when you're in a really transitional phase in your teenage years, I think it's a pretty normal reaction to develop food issues."

Many celebrities have claimed to go unairbrushed in magazine pictorials - see the unretouched photos here. Kim Kardashian went nude and reportedly unairbrushed for Harper's Bazaar earlier this year.

"The message [of this shoot] is embrace your curves and who you are," she told the magazine. "I feel proud if young girls look up to me and say, 'I'm curvy, and I'm proud of it now.'"

Comments

[thor25]

01:59 PM on 10/29/2010

Fakery in America??? NO !
Rachel points out another example of the sickness that legitimizes the narcissist plague sweeping the nation.
It's what you can get away with and still look good, right?

[McHale Ann Haiman]

05:27 AM on 10/29/2010

I love Rachel. She's pretty, talented and grounded. She may not have the most work, but that is because people want cover song CDs and giant fake boobs and gleaming blonde hair shoved into their wide-eyed faces as they quickly dwindle the contents of their wallets.

[FlaviaDeLuce]

12:18 PM on 10/29/2010

"giant fake boobs and gleaming blonde hair " like your favorite angel Kendra Wilkinson?

[FabulousAt52]

08:40 AM on 10/27/2010

TWICE I have replied to a person who made a fat biased statement about how "anyone smart" and with "common sense" would know to lower calories and raise exercise to not get fat in the first place.

I simply stated that the ol' calories in, calories out answer was not THE answer. Nothing is as simple as that when it comes to getting/being/remaining fat...

And HP deleted my reply TWICE. WTF HP??? WHY??

[Hypocrites are Watching]

03:46 PM on 10/28/2010

FabulousAt52 they do it to drive you nuts and always (almost) when you are replying to an annoying comment

[shatner99]

02:39 AM on 10/27/2010

Is this a gay and chic thing? Do guys care?

[Samantha Monteleone]

11:51 PM on 10/26/2010

I miss that movie! I used to have Photoshop when I was 14. I liked to remove the background out of my pictures and create layouts. I've never felt a need to Photoshop my photos. I do mess with the contrast sometimes, or I use a black and white texture. Nothing wrong with a bit of sprucing up. I think simple things like that can make photographs look more attractive if they look boring or weak in appearance.

I agree with her to an extent, but honestly, if some of these magazines did not Photoshop their pictures or businesses with their advertisements, their products probably would not sell as good. It is something that has been done for many years, and it isn't going to change.

[hemnebob]

04:57 PM on 10/27/2010

••but honestly, if some of these magazines did not Photoshop their pictures or businesses with their advertisements, their products probably would not sell as good. It is something that has been done for many years, and it isn't going to change.••

keyword here is 'honestly' how honest is it to purify a model's skin for a product if it doesn't work? how honest is it to eliminate the cellulite on a model if she is advertising some diet drink?
how honest is it to enhance a model's breasts in a bra that is supposed to hold them up in a d cup when the model is really a b cup?
so you gotta ask yourself, what is honest? certainly not the advertisement right? and how much of these products do you base your buying power on due to the model's photoshopped images?
it may not change but it is honest to let people know when these images are manipulated and these people represent something that isn't honestly represented, yes?
i work in photoshop every day of my working hours and you are just eliminating the flaws and if you live in the world i live in? then you know it isn't all true what you see.

[djnc]

10:17 PM on 10/26/2010

If she's still known as the "he's all that star," her career is in the toilet...badly

[Samantha Monteleone]

11:41 PM on 10/26/2010

She's All That, you mean? Lol.

[djnc]

12:54 PM on 10/27/2010

yes, thank you lol

[Michael Mouton]

07:56 PM on 10/26/2010

Crime? You should report your career missing.

[NateFisher]

07:11 PM on 10/26/2010

Can't look at her face without this damn song going through my head:

Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.

[Chorus:]
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me

Kiss me down by the broken tree house
Swing me upon its hanging tire
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat
We'll take the trail marked on your father's map

[Chorus (repeat)]

[Samantha Monteleone]

11:42 PM on 10/26/2010

I totally love that song. I used to hate it, but it grew on me when I was a teenager. =x

[vorpalmusic]

06:50 PM on 10/26/2010

"It is false advertising and false advertising is a crime so why isn't this a crime?"

I know! It's so lame when the woman I bought finally arrives in the mail and is like 25 lbs heavier than she looked in the magazine!

[zootalors]

01:38 PM on 10/27/2010

lol

[Ken Freedom]

06:29 PM on 10/26/2010

I still find it highly amusing that Hollywood once tried to pass RLC in glasses off as a "homely girl." It makes watching "She's All That" completely surreal, and is even less believable than Ally Sheedy's "transformation" into a pretty girl in "Breakfast Club."

[Puller58]

06:17 PM on 10/26/2010

It's Hollywood, so what does she expect?

[moderndaywarrior]

06:16 PM on 10/26/2010

People need to know that there are actual lenses that are put on cameras that make people stretched out."

****************

No there aren't.

[Mannock]

01:25 AM on 10/29/2010

Yes, there are. They are called wide angle lenses. And every time that you see some celeb on the red carpet and their feet are small and their torsos are swollen, it's the wide angle at work, set too close to the subject. Photoshop has a feature to correct wide angle distortion. When I shoot a runway or red carpet, I try to use a telephoto as it cuts down on the distortion.

[moderndaywarrior]

12:44 PM on 10/29/2010

She mentioned 'lenses that stretch people out' in her complaint that technology is used to make people look thinner, not fatter. Who uses a wide angle to caputer single figures or portraiture?

[Naldoman]

03:54 PM on 10/26/2010

Hmmm...uh....guess these kids never heard of soft-focus lenses used for movies in decades past, or airbrushed studio photos, or just plain old color paintings used to advertise black and white movies on posters and preview cards in the lobby.

No...no one EVER misrepresented how women looked before Photoshop...oil paintings made of daughters to shop around to the noble families when match-making...naw, they NEVER misrepresented how those women looked.

[UhOh1]

03:12 PM on 10/26/2010

who is she?

[NateFisher]

03:24 PM on 10/26/2010

Were you asleep during 1999?

[Max Shaw]

02:53 PM on 10/26/2010

I agree with her, but thats not a flattering photo for someone complaining about woman's issues...I dont know if the editors have a vendetta against her and did it on purpose, but it looks like she has to go to the bathroom.