Bethenny Frankel is using Photoshop for good.
The Real Housewives of New York City alum shared two versions of the same Instagram photo, both of which showed her standing on the beach in a bikini. The first is flawless compared to the second, but that’s only because Bethenny admitted to editing it to show social media’s ability to warp our perception of reality.
“This is NOT what I look like…and you know that bc I’m not vain and show you the real me,” she wrote Aug. 31. “But if I posted a version of this every day you might start to believe that it might be. This is just how distorted this has all gotten.”
“Filtering is lying: it is deceptive,” Bethenny continued. “It makes women feel badly about themselves. It makes young girls insecure and obsessed with an unattainable perfection. It makes middle aged women and mothers feel insecure about themselves. This creates a false ideal for men.”
The Skinnygirl founder added that excessive photo editing is not only “the opposite of inspirational,” but also “destructive” and “irresponsible.”
“There is a line between making an effort to look pretty,” she concluded the post, “and an outright falsehood.”