Proof Celeste Barber’s Marie Claire cover wasn’t edited amid ‘filter’ claims

Celeste Barber's latest magazine cover has caused controversy amid editing claims - but has been proven to be the real deal. Photo / Instagram @celestebarber

Landing a magazine cover is a big deal – especially when you’re a celebrity known for celebrating “real” bodies.

But when Celeste Barber appeared on the front of prestigious women’s magazine Marie Claire this week, the Australian comedian wasn’t hit with the wave of support you’d expect.

Instead, the 40-year-old’s front page copped a barrage of criticism.

While Barber – who was photographed in a red swimsuit with cutouts by designer Melissa Odabash to celebrate the magazine’s annual wellness issue – described feeling “banging” during the shoot, social media users claimed Barber had been “highly filtered”.

One claimed they “could hardly recognise her” as another condemned the magazine editors for “photoshopping the sh*t out of what would have been a naturally beautiful pic of Celeste”.

But while both Marie Claire and Barber are yet to address the criticism, the truth lies in plain sight, on newsstands across the country.

Nicky Briger, editor of Marie Claire Australia, revealed in her editor’s letter that Barber had a “no retouch request”, a requirement Briger said they were happy to oblige.

During the shoot on Sydney’s Maroubra beach late last year, she explained Barber – who is known for her parodies mocking unrealistic beauty standards – had approached her with the request while they huddled under an awning to hide from a “freak storm”.

“Celeste pulled me aside. ‘Look, I don’t want any retouching, OK? I like the way I look,’” Briger wrote.

“She pointed to an image on photographer Georges Antoni’s camera of her rocking a neon-orange one-piece with generous side cut-outs.

“‘That’s a sexy body – why change it?’”

Celeste Barber landed the cover story for Marie Claire’s February Wellness Issue. Photo / Instagram @celestebarber

Briger said she “couldn’t agree more”, adding it was another reason why they knew Barber was “the perfect person to helm our annual wellness issue.

“She’s confident in her own skin and preaches self-acceptance to all who’ll listen. Put simply, she’s the real deal,” she penned.

“So when Celeste delivered her no-retouch request, I knew we’d made the right cover choice.”

Celeste Barber, whose new TV show Wellmania hits Netflix on March 29, has since also revealed another detail about the “tongue-in-cheek” photo shoot featuring the mother-of-two – who also has two stepdaughters with husband Api – in an array of different fitness scenarios.

“I had a fractured coccyx during this shoot, she’s professional,” she wrote on Instagram in a post thanking Marie Claire for “having me on your cover”.

“I shot my @netflix special the night before and was exhausted but I loved every second of this and felt banging.”

She detailed the minor editing tweaks made in a separate post, stating “they photoshopped out my strapless bra” in one snap and cheekily poked fun at the image of her levitating, writing: “There’s not trickery here, I can actually fly.”