Nigella Lawson slams TV stations for airbrushing her

Nigella Lawson has hit back at TV execs photoshopping her thinner. Photo / Supplied

British TV star chef Nigella Lawson has hit out at US TV stations to stop photoshopping her "sticking out stomach".

The TV cook took to Twitter at the weekend, saying the editing was harmful, in that it took a negative view of fat.

"I've had to tell American TV stations not to airbrush my sticking out stomach. The hatred of fat, and assumption that we'd all be grateful to be airbrushed thinner is pernicious," Lawson tweeted in response to "The Good Place" actress Jameela Jamil's comments on Photoshopping.

Jamil took to Twitter to hit back at Irish columnist Nadine O'Regan, who criticized the actress and claimed she was "beseeching us to look uglier for the benefit of society."

I’ve had to tell American tv stations not to airbrush my sticking out stomach. The hatred of fat, and assumption that we’d all be grateful to be airbrushed thinner is pernicious.

— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) December 15, 2018

"She thinks you're 'UGLY' just as you are. She also doesn't understand that a huge part of why I hate Photoshop is how it's used as a tool of erasure of ethnicities, our skin colour, our features. This is embarrassing white privilege and deep misogyny. Slow clap @NadineORegan," Jamil wrote.

Lawson has spoken before about TV executives trying to photoshop her, saying she "didn't want to become what (she's) not."

"I could see them wincing when they saw my tummy bulging out of my dress. And when I say bulging, I don't mean huge. I just mean you could see the roundness. It was a tummy," she told the Telegraph.

"I really didn't want to become what I'm not. I'm all for taking exercise so that I can eat as much as I can without getting too huge but, nevertheless, I didn't want to be turned into a plastic creation.

"I wouldn't want to have to pretend to be something I'm not just for my own anxiety levels," she said.