Rumer Willis accuses photographer of Photoshopping her jaw in Vanity Fair

Willis claims altering the image is a form of bullying

Rumer Willis, the eldest daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore (Getty Images)

Rumer Willis has accused photographers on a recent Vanity Fair shoot of “bullying” her by Photoshopping her jaw to make it appear smaller.

The actress and daughter of Bruce Willis shared a picture of herself and her sisters Tallulah and Scout from Vanity Fair’s recent 'Sisters' issue, shot by photographers Mark Williams and Sara Hirakawa. The image was not used in the magazine edition or on the magazine's website.

In a post on Instagram, Willis claimed the image had been digitally altered to reduce her jawline.

“Any friends of fans of mine who posted this I would appreciate if you took it down,“ she wrote. ”The photographer Photoshopped my face to make my jaw smaller and I find it really offensive for anyone to try and change the way you look so drastically. I love the way I look and I won't support anyone who would feel a need to change the way I look to make me beautiful. Whether or not they realise it, it is a form of bullying, which I won't stand for.”

In a statement given to the Independent, Williams and Hirakawa said they had not deliberately altered her jawline.

"The retouching that was done to the photograph was only done to resolve some distortion with using a wide angle lens for a group shot, and not to alter or modify anyone’s face," the statement continued. "We used a wide angle lens, and it might have made Rumer’s chin look smaller from the higher angle that we shot the image. We did correct for the optics of the lens slightly as people’s heads get distorted through the wide angle lens. We certainly did not intend to change the way she naturally looks. Our intention was to capture the special bond between Rumer and her sisters.

"It saddens us that Rumer feels the way she does about the image and hope she understands that there was never any intention with it to alter her appearance.

"We should make clear that this image was an outtake and was not published in Vanity Fair or vf.com, nor did they ever see it."

Willis’ post echoes one shared by Lena Dunham, who accused the Spanish magazine El Pais of Photoshopping her legs so they appeared slimmer in March. The magazine denied manipulating her image and Dunham apologised in a second post.

Dunham said she was so accustomed to seeing her body airbrushed that she was unable to tell when it was a true reflection of her appearance or not and vowed to never appear in a magazine that wanted to alter her image.

In an open letter, the Girls creator wrote: “It's a weird feeling to see a photo and not know if it's your own body anymore (and I'm pretty sure that will never be my thigh width but I honestly can't tell what's been slimmed and what hasn't.) I'm not blaming anyone (y'know, except society at large.) I have a long and complicated history with retouching. I wanna live in this wild world and play the game and get my work seen, and I also want to be honest about who I am and what I stand for."