Sam Claflin wants us to know that he does not have the "perfect" body. On Friday, the Me Before You star confessed in a funny Instagram post that a widely circulated photo of him actually features the torso of a different person.
In the caption, he addressed three groups of people. "Firstly, the person who dedicated a lot of time and hard work training and sculpting their body to within an inch of its life. Seriously, well done!" he wrote.
"Secondly, the person who dedicated a lot of time and effort into resizing and reshaping my face so it fits on that body. I can only assume it's no easy feat, so congratulations must go to you, too — for making this look even remotely realistic," he continued. "To everyone who actually believed (even for a second) that this could be me. Wow. Bless you. Like, really, really thank you. I'm flattered. But it isn't me."
Photos of celebrities can give men and women alike the idea that the bodies our society idealizes are more common than they are. But Photoshop can drastically alter the shape of someone's body, as well as the appearance of their face.
Alterations as drastic as virtually transplanting a head on a different body aren't uncommon in the world of photo retouching. "There's a lot of the switching bodies up," an anonymous Victoria's Secret photo editor told Refinery29 earlier this year. Someone might ask her, for example, "Can you change these arms with a different girl's arms?"
Even without editing, something as small as the position someone stands in can make them look like a different person.
In reality, the perfect body simply does not exist, nor is it something to aspire to.
As for Claflin, he has different priorities. "Right now, I'm enjoying my work and being a dad for the first time, and it's getting way too close to Christmas for me to spend any free time I DO have in the gym," he wrote.
Props to him for reminding everyone you don't have to look like a fitness model in real life or in photos to deserve to be seen, loved, and accepted.
RELATED STORIES
Kendall & Gigi Are The Latest Victims Of A Photoshop Fail
Gina Rodriguez Would Prefer If You Didn't Photoshop Her
This Is What Ashley Graham Looks Like Without Any Photoshopping
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT