BBC News School Report @ LCS

Two TV stars have hit out at Cosmopolitan Philippines for photoshopping them on its cover.

The popular magazine also has a US edition and the unedited cover was posted for March’s issue. However the Philippines edition sparked controversy when Riverdale stars Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes were featured with their waists looking considerably smaller.

Lili Reinhart posted her thoughts online ‘We are powerful, beautiful and strong…. We aren’t going to hide behind photoshop to conform to beauty standards.’

Camila Mendes added ‘We want readers to know that these bodies are not ours; they have been distorted from their natural beauty.’

Reinhart posted both the original and edited version of the photo, so that her fans could see a clear difference between the two. After posting both Images she went on to leave a strong message behind for her followers.

‘Camila and I have worked incredibly hard to feel confident in the bodies we have’ she then went on to say ‘It’s an everyday battle sometimes. And to see our bodies become so distorted in an editing process is a perfect example of the obstacles that we have yet to overcome.’

Lili who has previously talked about her problems with anxiety continued to confront Cosmopolitan and quoted ‘Camila and I are beautiful. As is. And you can’t fix us’

Fans of the pair quickly commented on the Instagram of both Cosmopolitan Philippines and Reinhart, supporting the campaign to have the edited images removed.

On her own Instagram, Mendes, who has struggled and spoke out about having an eating disorder posted ‘Happy International women’s day! @lilireinhart and I feel disrespected and disturbed by the sight of our photoshopped bodies in Cosmopolitan Philippines.’

She then went on to shame Cosmopolitan ‘I am not interested in having a slimmer waist, I’m more than satisfied with the one I have.’

This is not only a perfect example of positive body image but also of female role models standing up for the respect they deserve. They both got the much needed attention to unrealistic body standards in the modern celebrity world and the posts have now been removed from Cosmopolitan Philippines’s Instagram page.