Triple-handed Oprah sees funny side to magazine Photoshop gaffe
WHEN Oprah Winfrey posed for the Oscars issue of Vanity Fair, she was full of praise for Annie Leibovitz, the photographer. “She sees things that you can’t see,” Winfrey gushed.
Unfortunately, what Leibovitz could not see was that the magazine had published a picture of the chat show legend with three hands.
Eagle-eyed social media users spotted yesterday that Winfrey appeared to have one hand on her waist, another on her lap and a third around the waist of Reese Witherspoon.
In another of the images, Witherspoon appeared to have three legs.
The “Photoshop fail” soon proved to be more of a talking point than the cover itself, which was months in the planning and commemorated the exit of Graydon Carter, the magazine’s long-serving editor. He was featured in the spread alongside Hollywood A-listers including Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman.
Fortunately, the two stars saw the funny side. Witherspoon tweeted: “Well... I guess everybody knows now... I have three legs. I hope you can still accept me for who I am.”
Winfrey replied: “I accept your third leg. As I know you accept my third hand.”
The magazine maintained that Witherspoon’s extra leg was a trick of the eye caused by the lining of her dress. But it came clean regarding Winfrey, tweeting: “As for Oprah, how can we expect her to juggle it all with just two hands?”
Given the impossibility of matching up the stars’ schedules, separate shoots for the Oscars issue took place in Los Angeles and New York, although Witherspoon, Winfrey and Hanks did pose together.
The cover is “a snapshot of the entertainment world as it exists in a particular year” and for 2018 it includes Claire Foy, star of Netflix’s The Crown. The magazine praised her “quintessential Englishness” and “cameo-brooch composure”. One person was missing: James Franco, who had posed for the magazine and given an interview, but was removed from the image in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. He denies the allegations against him.
A Vanity Fair spokesman said: “We made a decision not to include James Franco on the Hollywood cover once we learned of the misconduct allegations against him.”
Meanwhile, Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting this year’s Best Actress award at the 2018 Academy Awards. As winner of the Best Actor Oscar last year for his performance in Manchester by the Sea, he was expected to present the award in keeping with Academy tradition. Affleck, 42, was accused of sexual harassment by female crew members on a film in 2010.
Confirming Affleck would not appear, a spokesman for the academy said: “We appreciate the decision to keep the focus on the show and on the great work of this year.”
Affleck, the younger brother of Ben Affleck, topped challenges from Denzel Washington and Ryan Gosling to win the 2017 award. He also took home a Golden Globe and numerous trophies from film critics groups.
The win came despite 2010 sexual harassment accusations that resurfaced in the run-up to the ceremony.
This year’s Oscars ceremony is scheduled for March 4 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.