NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Kim Kardashian’s belly button.
That was what punters were riled up about this week.
At a time when we have enough to worry about, apparently now we’re all in a tizz over whether or not Kim Photoshops her Instagrams to the point she’s erasing body parts.
Really brings a whole new meaning to the term naval gazing.
This week the reality TV star responded to claims she had edited her body to within an inch of its natural dimensions so that she was now sans belly button, in the latest in what is a very long line of accusations of Photoshopping on a Kardashian/Jenner social media post.
What I’m more confused about in all this, though, is not whether or not the woman has a belly button – it’s when we started expecting these women to portray any sort of realistic image on Instagram.
Kim has never really insisted she was ‘real’ so why do we expect her to be on the one site where even the layman tunes their images into something that ultimately looks nothing like their IRL selves.
Snap out of it, people.
If the mogul was some righteous champion of the hashtag-no-filter brigade and was breaking barriers, changing laws and shunning horrendously unrealistic beauty and body expectations I might feel a little disheartened by this assumption she’s editing her images.
But we’re talking about Kim Kardashian. A woman who makes millions from posting perfection.
Case in point: amid all the hullabaloo her belly button evidently brings, she went on to leak images of her Photoshopping sister Khloe’s daughter True into a photo at Disneyland originally of Kim’s daughter Chicago alongside Kylie Jenner’s kid Stormi.
This was because Kylie didn’t want the image of Stormi shared and Kim wasn’t prepared to ditch the photo, because Chicago was wearing pink and that went with Kim’s Instagram aesthetic that day. I s**t you not this is what actually happened, according to the Skims founder.
The woman is prepared to Photoshop a different niece into a photo to make sure it still aligns with her so-carefully-curated vibes, you think a belly button, blemish, stomach roll (we’ve all got ‘em, even old mate Kim) is going to get in her way of Instagram glory?
We even saw what happened when an unedited – yet still gorgeous – image of one of them got out, after Khloe reportedly cut sick when a non-Photoshopped bikini photo made its way onto social media, before it was yanked off with more gusto than Usain Bolt in the 100m sprint.
I know we should be calling out this sort of blatant distaste for what humans actually look like, but pick your battles, people.
For the Kardashians of the world, Instagram is like an art gallery. They’re not hanging their crap work on the wall in an effort to ‘keep it real’, so you shouldn’t go to people like the Kardashians for reality – even if they have a reality show.
When there are a plethora of people out there to follow who are championing showing off your bodies, quite literally warts and all, in such a positive way and forging real change (I don’t think they would appreciate being named in an article about Kim Kardashian’s belly button, so I won’t), I’m baffled we’re still getting so worked up about a family, who, as Amy Schumer once joked, ‘take the faces they were born with as a light suggestion’, when they share a clearly edited image.
I implore you all to stop having a conniption any time you see a warped mirror frame in the background of a celebrity photo. Or, even worse, wasting your time searching for one, in an attempt at a ‘gotcha!’ moment. You’re better than that, even if the celebrities aren’t.
Look, I do concede there is obviously a dangerous side-effect on society that comes when we’re constantly bombarded with such a level of bodily manipulation, and I thank the good lord Harry Styles’ Instagram wasn’t around when I was a teen and more affected by the images presented to me in pop culture.
While I can separate and understand the majority of what I’m seeing online is fake and phoney and I wish I never laid my eyes on it (thank you Sandy from Grease) I do appreciate seeing Kim without a belly button may cause people to believe they, too, should not have such a hideous hole in their stomach, which once served a purpose to give you life.
This level of Instagram faux-ness can cause real damage for people and I don’t want to take away from that by making a comment about being able to see through such things myself.
Jessica Simpson heads out in LA after revealing 100lb weight loss with proud bikini snap
Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Ana De Armas will 'offend everyone', says director
Tremors and Escape From Alcatraz actor Fred Ward dies aged 79
Personally, I love a bit of balance. Much like I love to go to the cinema and watch a stupendously green-screened blockbuster flick, made of 95% VFX and actors on wires, while also fawning over an indie, art house outing, I love a bit of, not even aspirational content on my feed so much as downright, glamorous smoke and mirrors that is in no way an accurate portrayal of a homosapien.
When it comes to the likes of Kim and Ko, it’s their thing – plus, the unfollow button exists for a very real reason that is *ideal* in situations such as this.
So go forth, good people, if you’re not into that life, please scroll on and protect your space.
MORE : Kim Kardashian sobs as ex-husband Kanye West retrieves sex tape from Ray J: ‘We’re not getting extorted ever again’
MORE : Kourtney Kardashian cut Scott Disick’s brutal ‘dating young girls’ skit from Kim Kardashian’s SNL appearance: ‘She wasn’t feeling it’
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Get us in your feed