Kerry Washington doesn’t recognize herself on AdWeek’s cover

Kerry Washington is calling attention to the scandalous retouching job she says AdWeek did for its latest cover, which features the “Scandal” star.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Washington first thanked the industry mag for showcasing her so prominently.

“I always celebrate it when a respected publication invites me to grace their pages. It’s an honor. And a privilege. And ADWEEK is no exception.”

Then Washington addressed the matter of her appearance on the cover, for which she models a black and white striped dress before a bold graphic background.

“Look, I’m no stranger to Photoshopping. It happens a lot. In a way, we have become a society of picture adjusters - who doesn’t love a filter?!? And I don’t always take these adjustments to task but I have had the opportunity to address the impact of my altered image in the past and I think it’s a valuable conversation.”

The AdWeek cover was a bridge too far for the “Django Unchained” actress.

“Yesterday, however, I just felt weary. It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror. It’s an unfortunate feeling.”

Washington’s fans agreed that the cover didn’t do her justice

“This is upsetting. This picture looks nothing like you…you’re 100000000 times more beautiful than this picture. Why can’t people just calm down on the photoshop and appreciate REAL beauty,” dandc.designs commented under the photo.

Some took the magazine to task on its Instagram page.

“Well I thought it was Kerry Washington but it was photoshopped so bad that I don’t know who that woman on the cover actually is,” said an Instagrammer who goes by simply_shanetta91.

The magazine responded to the hubbub in a statement.

“Kerry Washington is a class act. We are honored to have her grace our pages. To clarify, we made minimal adjustments, solely for the cover’s design needs. We meant no disrespect, quite the opposite. We are glad she is enthusiastic about the piece and appreciate her honest comments,” Editorial Director James Cooper said.

Washington isn’t the first celeb to accuse a publication of altering their image.

Lena Dunham criticized a Spanish newspaper in March for what she saw as an unrealistic depiction of her body within its pages. The paper, El Pais, denied Photoshopping Dunham but admitted it could have been done before the image was sold to the publication.

Heavy use of photo editing software has become a big issue in recent years, with numerous celebrities and others railing against the practice of digitally thinning bodies and making other changes that can drastically alter a person’s appearance to a sometimes absurd extent.

Critics have accused magazines of using the technology to peddle an unrealistic – and often unattainable – standard of beauty.

In October, singer and actress Zendaya called out Modeliste for heavily altering images of her and posted the original images side by side with the retouched versions.

“These are the things that make women self conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have,” she wrote.

Washington chose her words carefully when criticizing the cover on Tuesday, saying she’s proud of the article and happy with the other images inside the mag.

“Grab this week’s ADWEEK. Read it. I hope you enjoy it,” she said. “And thank you for being patient with me while I figured out how to post this in a way that felt both celebratory and honest.

XOXOXOX.”

Kerry Washington took to Instagram to criticize the April 4 AdWeek magazine cover, on which she appears. "It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror. It's an unfortunate feeling," she wrote.

Lena Dunham posted this photo of the cover of Tentaciones magazine on Monday, February 29, claiming that the publication had heavily edited it. But El País, the Spanish newspaper that publishes the magazine, says it made no changes to the shot.

Vogue's February 2014 issue featuring Dunham came under fire from critics who said it was severely edited. Not long after the issue was released, website Jezebel put up a $10,000 reward for anyone who would submit pictures of Dunham before they were retouched. Dunham tweeted, "10K? Give it to charity then just order HBO."

Lady Gaga was featured on Glamour's December 2013 cover. Gaga received an award from the magazine at the annual Woman of the Year Awards and took the stage opportunity to speak about body issues and Photoshopping celebrities, using her cover photo as an example: "I felt my skin looked too perfect," she said, according to the Huffington Post. "I felt my hair looked too soft. ... I do not look like this when I wake up in the morning. What I want to see is the change on your covers. When the covers change, that's when culture changes."

"Pretty Little Liars" actress Ashley Benson posted to Instagram in regards to a poster promoting the show in 2013, "Saw this floating around . . . hope it's not the post. Our faces in this were from 4 years ago... and we all look ridiculous. Way too much Photoshop. We all have flaws. No one looks like this. It's not attractive." She also wrote, "Remember, you are ALL beautiful. Please don't ever try and look like the people you see in magazines or posters because it's fake."

Gisele Bundchen urged more advertising campaigns to embrace imperfections and steer away from over retouching, and embraced her ideals as seen here in the BLK DNM fall 2012 campaign. "I loved his approach because I feel like women should be really real and raw and it doesn't really happen anymore" in fashion photographs, she told Fashionista. "I love that feeling of, you know, we are women -- we are so different. Our imperfections are what makes us unique and beautiful. He gets that. He's not trying to retouch you or put a pretty light on you."

H&M's summer 2013 campaign featuring Beyoncé created some heat when the brand attempted to retouch some of her curves. The Sun reported that "when Beyoncé found out they had edited the way her body really looked, she hit the roof. She's a true diva and was furious that she had been given such a snubbing. Her people refused to give the pictures the green light, so H&M were forced to use the originals."

Jennifer Lawrence was featured in Dior's spring 2013 ad campaign. After it came out, the actress told "Access Hollywood," "That doesn't look like me at all," referring to the retouched photos. Lawrence also spoke with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, saying, "The world has this idea that if you don't look like an airbrushed perfect model. You have to see past it. You look how you look. You have to be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb."

When Coco Rocha was featured on Elle Brasil's May 2012 issue, she took to her Tumblr and had this to say: "As a high fashion model I have long had a policy of no nudity or partial nudity in my photo shoots. For my recent Elle Brazil cover shoot I wore a body suit under a sheer dress which I now find was photoshopped out to give the impression of me showing much more skin than I was, or am comfortable with. This was specifically against my expressed verbal and written direction to the entire team that they not do so. I'm extremely disappointed that my wishes and contract was ignored. I strongly believe every model has a right to set rules for how she is portrayed and for me these rules were clearly circumvented."

Jessica Simpson appeared with air-dried hair and wearing no makeup for the May 2010 cover of Marie Claire. Simpson told the magazine, "I don't have anything to prove anymore. What other people think of me is not my business."

OK! Magazine's February 1, 2010, issue featured new mom Kourtney Kardashian and was shot just seven days after her newborn's birth, WWD reports. Kardashian told WWD, "They doctored and Photoshopped my body to make it look like I have already lost all the weight, which I have not." She also tweeted, "One of those weeklies got it wrong again...they didn't have an exclusive with me. And I gained 40 pounds while pregs, not 26...But thanks!"

In March 2009, Complex magazine accidentally featured a non-retouched image of Kim Kardashian for several hours before replacing with the retouched image. "So what: I have a little cellulite," Kardashian wrote in a blog entry entitled "Yes, I am complex!" "What curvy girl doesn't?!"

Brad Pitt was featured unretouched on the cover of W Magazine's February 2009 issue. Pitt personally requested to be photographed by Chuck Close, who is famous for his extremely detailed portraits, and opted for no retouching."You can't be the fair-haired young boy forever," Close said. "Maybe a photograph of him with his crow's-feet and furrowed brow is good for him."

A 2004 promotional poster for "King Arthur" revealed a more well-endowed Keira Knightley than her typical boyish figure. Knightly has complained about her breasts being digitally altered for promotional movie shots and in reference to the "King Arthur" poster told a magazine, "those things certainly weren't mine."

Kate Winslet has famously rejected retouching since her cover shoot for the February 2003 issue of GQ. Regarding the issue, she stated, "The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that, and more importantly, I don't desire to look like that." She also mentioned, "I actually have a Polaroid that the photographer gave me on the day of the shoot. ... I can tell you they've reduced the size of my legs by about a third. For my money, it looks pretty good the way it was taken."

Celebs take a stand against retouching

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CNN’s Michael Pearson contributed to this report.