Kate and Will's hospital photo was Photoshopped, and you won't be able to unsee it

Prince William and Kate Middleton are appearing unrecognizable post-birth. And while it’s completely understandable for parents to look more tired and disheveled right after welcoming a new baby, that’s not what’s going on here. In fact, Kate and William are looking the opposite of exhausted on the cover of New Zealand’s Woman’s Day: fresh faced and creepily perfect.

The magazine used a photo of the royal couple on the steps of the hospital. Kate is waving and holding her newborn son. In the original image, they both look pretty impressive considering they just spent hours delivering a baby. People are even comparing their much worse for wear post-baby appearances to the couple’s miraculous turnaround. But apparently Woman’s Day wasn’t as impressed; on the cover, the image is heavily edited, to a point where the couple looks creepy.

New Zealand TV host Hilary Barry noticed the discrepancies and posted side-by-sides of the original and the cover on social media. In the edited version, their skin tones and eyes are brightened, teeth are whitened, dark circles and spots removed.

Barry has a bone to pick with the magazine. “When the Duchess of Cambridge emerged on those famous hospital steps hours after giving birth, I was amazed,” she wrote on Facebook. “Yes, I know she has a team of makeup artists, hairdressers and stylists but it is pretty extraordinary to look as composed and radiant after your body’s been through an ordeal like childbirth.”

Barry was one of the women who posted a photo of herself hours after birth to show the difference. “I wasn’t getting at the Duchess, I was just offering an alternative reality and, I would venture to say, a more common reality,” she pointed out. “Today I saw a social media post from a women’s mag promoting its latest Royal Baby issue which hit the stands today. It left me shaking my head.”

Barry continued, “What message is this sending to girls? That despite posing in front of the world’s cameras hours after giving birth looking immaculate, elegant and absolutely beautiful, the Duchess of Cambridge was still not quite good enough for the front cover of the mag?”

She also took to Twitter to express her distaste. “You know the world’s gone completely mad when a mag has to photoshop one of the most photogenic couples in the world. This is mental,” she wrote.

She’s not the only one who is disgusted by the magazine’s audacity to publish this image and the message it sends that even naturally and a bit enhanced isn’t good enough. “Seems strange that Woman’s Day haven’t highlighted their natural persona but rather made them look plastic,” someone commented on Barry’s Facebook post. “Disgusting that WD felt it was ok or appropriate to photoshop someone that was already beautiful,” another lamented. “Totally agree! She looked amazing without the need to airbrush! It seems very intrusive and unfair that she is expected to greet the world press at all!”

Others have expressed how this cemented their aversion to the magazine, and some pledged to stop buying it. “Absolute shame on Women’s Day, I will not buy their magazines for this reason, what is wrong with showing her as a human, there is no need to photoshop her image, she is beautiful, even hours after giving birth,” someone wrote on Facebook. “Never read that cr*p anyway, its only good for loo roll,” echoed another. “Woman’s Day is the worst at this and other mis informed stories, Stopped buying 2yrs ago because of it!!” wrote a third. A male Twitter user even created a hashtag in response. “Time to #boycottwomansdaymagazine.”

Others can’t help but point out how much of a #PhotoshopFail this is, and we can’t help but agree. If they were going to change it, they could have at least done so subtly, or just avoided making them look like paintings from a Paint and Pint class. “Adding salt to the wound, it’s a pretty bad Photoshop at that, all sorts of uncanny valley vibes from the androids the women’s rag turned them into,” someone said in response to Barry’s tweet “[T]hey made them look AWFUL. Goodness,” another person wrote.

“The graphic designer that photoshopped this should get the sack. Not even like they’ve gone just one step too far – more like ten steps too far. Such a poor job…,” a Facebook user bluntly stated. This could be the same Photoshop offender who botched the Zaring family’s photos and made their faces look like stencil drawings.

This makes Kim Kardashian’s #PhotoshopFails look like works of art.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Kate Middleton’s perfect post-baby hair sparks debate about new mom expectations

• What do the stars hold for the royal baby? An astrologist weighs in

• Will Prince Louis inspire a baby-naming trend?

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