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Unretouched Photos from Beyonce’s L’Oreal Ads Leak, the Internet Goes Crazy

BeyHive reacts in outrage, Beyonce’s camp pulls the photos

Feb 19, 2015 08:35 GMT  ·  By
This is how Beyonce really looks, before Photoshop (allegedly)
   This is how Beyonce really looks, before Photoshop (allegedly)

Beyonce has a very strong grip on her public image, even admitting to having at home an entire room dedicated to the collection of material published online or in print about her. She is also believed to exercise said control over her public image by not allowing paparazzi around and releasing her own, allegedly Photoshopped paparazzi-style photos, mostly through her official website.

She also has only certain photo agencies that she allows into her concerts, and she always has the final say in those pics that are released afterwards. The bottom line is that there are only a handful of unfavorable photos of Beyonce online.

We now have more.

An unprecedented photo leak

Because she’s so in control of her image, Beyonce leaks are a rare thing, whether we’re talking about photos or music, or even details pertaining to her personal life.

So when the fansite The Beyonce World obtained and published unretouched photos from her 2013 L’Oreal shoots, that was a first-time kind of event. No wonder the Internet went crazy within minutes, with the singer’s very loyal fans, known collectively as the BeyHive, reacting in outrage.

The photos are no longer available at the site, which has published an explanation for pulling them: the fans were too upset and Beyonce’s people weren’t too happy either.

“We don't want to cause any drama, nor do we wish to start fan wars. Some of the things we have seen posted were just horrible, and we don't want any parts of it. We were just posting the photos to share the fact that our queen is naturally beautiful, at the same time she is just a regular woman,” the post says.

However, as these things go, once something is out on the Internet, there’s no taking it back. As you can see in the tweets below, the photos are everywhere: on Twitter, on Facebook, on celebrity blogs and in the glossies. Beyonce and the fans may do their best to have them pulled, but they stand no chance of success at this point.

What’s the big deal after all?

It’s true, some of these photos aren’t flattering at all to Beyonce, but only because we’re used to seeing her flawless all the time.

Does that mean that she’s somewhat less beautiful because of them? So her skin isn’t perfect like a doll’s, but whose woman’s is? Yes, she has bags under her eyes and, what do you know?, her makeup also runs after a few hours, but isn’t this everyday reality for most of us?

As some fans point out, why are we trying to shame Beyonce for being, after all, human? The fact that she looks different before Photoshop and is thus more relatable shouldn’t be that much of a shock to us, because everyone in showbiz is doing it.

The possible answer for the wave of shock that’s still being felt online after this leak is that it would probably not exist if Beyonce’s people hadn’t reacted so quickly in pulling the photos. By doing that, they are enforcing this “perfect” image of the singer, even though we now know for a fact it doesn’t exist.

Cindy Crawford didn’t do this after her pic leaked a few days ago, she just embraced it. Beyonce could have learned a lesson from that, namely that if you want to preach about real beauty and body acceptance, you have to start with your own example.

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