School girls no more! The women of Pretty Little Liars stripped down to their teeny-weeny bikinis this week for a spread in GQ magazine, which caused a bit of controversy. And no, its not cause they were barely wearing any clothes and trying to strip really attractive men of their towels. Wait, isn’t the point of a GQ spread actually to have people talking and cause controversy?!
The scandalous shoot came under fire for being heavily photoshopped. The liars were styled in retro hairdo’s, being playful and silly poolside, in heels, squirting water guns and  being surrounded by half-naked men. (So really any girls dream.)

There’s no denying the role that photoshop played in the shots. Technically, these girls don’t even need photoshop– their all so beautiful without it. But the stylization of the Ellen Von Unwerth shoot required it to look retro, glam, high-fashion and totally fake. So what’s the big deal?

But before I dive into the Photoshop controversy and the way it was handled, I do want to point out that there was also an article along with the sexy pics and that it was well worth the read. Going into their 5th season, the girls are already thinking about what they want to do once PLL is dunzo. Benson wants to star in a Woody Allen movie, while Mitchell wants to become the next Bond girl and do all her own stunts. Hale already has a second career as a country singer, with an album that just came out and is hoping that her dreams of going on tour will happen shortly. As for Bellisario, she wants to do some Shakespeare in the park, “maybe playing Lady MacBeth”. You see there’s much more to these girls than their smoothed out skin and perfect curled locks. Which is what Troian Bellisario wanted to prove when she took to Instagram to address the controversy.

Photo Credit: Troian Bellisario

She posted behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot that showed what the girls really looked like that day, while writing this really long, but really brilliant post.

“So by now you have seen many a shot from #GQ and many people have said that we were photoshopped… OF COURSE WE WERE! that’s a very specific type of photo shoot. And looking very blown out and perfected was obviously what they were looking for. Great. Cool. As long as we acknowledge how it was achieved so we know it’s not real. Here’s some behind the scenes of my body the way it is and was on the day. I’m not mad at how these pictures turned out, the girls and I had an absolute blast. More fun than we’ve had on a photoshoot in a while, and I think you can see that in our eyes and smiles. But it’s the same everywhere. It’s the same way on the posters of our show and even in women’s magazines. This industry seems to invest more in perfection than in flaw. But flaw and individuality, to me, are what make a human being interesting, they make our stories worth telling. (Unfortunately the flaws don’t usually sell products or magazines.) I’m proud of my body and the way it looks because @themarkwildman kicks my butt in aerial. But my hips and thighs are a part of me (even though they magically weren’t in some shots!). I get those things from my momma. And I’m happy to shake what my momma gave me,” she wrote under the picture caption.

Good for you Troian. Of course we live in a world where we idolize being thin and without a flaw, but isn’t that what sells magazines? These girls aren’t denying that they were digitally enhanced. They don’t actually want you to believe that they look this good all the time. You’d be a fool to actually think that. (Have you not seen the episodes where Spencer isn’t sleeping? She DOES NOT look like that.) Truthfully, I think the point of this photo shoot was to look glam and have fun doing it, which is exactly what these ladies portrayed. Their fun, edgy and not afraid to do something that’s out of the box. Plus, show me a star who hasn’t been a victim of photoshop! At least this was done tastefully and no arms and legs were cut off to give a distorted image of what we think the ideal body should look like! Can I also add that the behind-the-scenes photos and the actual print photos look really similar? I mean, Troian really does have a nice body. Shay’s legs really are that long. That’s not an illusion. That’s not digitally enhanced!

She followed up the post (which was probably cut off for being a bit long) with this: “I mean. Photoshopped or not. I work with three of the most gorgeous women on the planet. (Goddesses without hair and make up as well).” And judging by the photos her castmates posted on their own Instagrams (both behind-the-scenes and in the mag), everyone was happy with the way the shoot turned out.” And really, isn’t that the point? 

Fans were surprised that they were totally fine with being portrayed so unrealistically. Ashley Benson has long voiced her opinion on photoshop (and how much she hates it). Similarly, Troian Bellisario recently admitted that she struggled with an eating disorder because of the pressure put on her to look thin and perfect. And this isn’t the first time these leading ladies have come under fire for being heavily photoshopped. Last year, even they voiced their displeasure with the Pretty Little Liars posters, which were covered in photoshop making the girls almost doll-like.

Saw this floating around … hope it’s not the post,” Benson wrote on Instagram. “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.”

Benson also told her young fans to not let their self-esteem be affected by images they see in the media.

“Remember, you are ALL beautiful,” she wrote on Instagram. “Please don’t ever try and look like the people you see in magazines or posters because it’s fake.”

“It only causes an unhealthy mind about how you see yourself,” she added. “You are perfect the way you are.”

Check out the pictures from the June GQ shoot and let us know what you think? Did you like the photos? Did you hate the photoshop?

Featured Image: GQ/ Photo- Ellen von Unwerth