Ronda Rousey is so committed to authenticity that she went on Instagram to set the record straight about an altered photo shared on her account earlier in the day.
Rousey was a guest on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” this week and shared a photo from her appearance on her Instagram account Thursday. Unbeknownst to Rousey, the photo had been altered to make her arms thinner and less muscular. The original photo was shared midday and received over 200,000 likes on Instagram.
Much later in the evening, Rousey posted another photo on Instagram, this time with a side-by-side shot of two stills from her appearance on Fallon’s show. In the photo on the left, Rousey’s arms are their usual, muscular size. In the photo on the right, her arms are skinnier as they appeared in the picture she posted earlier.
“I have to make an apology to everyone – I was sent a picture to share on social for Fallon that was altered without me knowing to make my arms look smaller. I won’t say by who – I know it was done with severely misplaced positive intentions – but this goes against everything I believe and I am extremely proud of every inch of my body. And I can assure you all it will never happen again. I could not be more appalled and hope you all forgive me,” she wrote as her caption.
At a time when many celebrities are cloaked in falseness, Rousey is going out of her way to be honest. Many celebrities get plastic surgery and deny it. The photos they post on social media are often airbrushed and improved via Photoshop. Then you have celebrities endorsing products coyly without mentioning they were paid for the post. Rousey has always stood up against all of that and has been proud of her build. In fact, she is so proud she has issued these threatening comments against anyone who thinks otherwise.
Posting a photo that is altered to make her appear skinnier and therefore fit the media’s body image preferences would have made Rousey look like a phony and gone against everything she stands for. Correcting the record helps cement Rousey’s counterculture beliefs and further endears her to her loyal fans.
