Madonna’s Over Use of Filters, Airbrushing, Photoshop
Published March 2, 2022
I think various magazines and the record companies have been using Photoshop to airbrush out Madonna’s pores and lines going back at least 15, 20 or more years.
But ever since Madonna has been posting to social media more often, it seems that some time in the past few years, she (or whomever manages her social media) has been airbrushing, filtering, and Photoshopping her images to such a degree that she either resembles a classic 1950s era, sci fi movie outer space alien, 👽, or she just barely resembles herself. 
Even though I’ve disliked Madonna, even going back to the 1980s when she began her career, I’m surprised at how she’s mishandling the aging process – and in the public eye, no less.
I’ve said before on the Anti Madonna discussion board that I’m not entirely thrilled to be aging, either (it does have some benefits, though), and if I could afford it, I too would probably get a procedure or two done.
And yet, I don’t think I’d go over-board with the filters, like Madonna does, if I were to post selfies to social media.
Any way, as I was starting to say, as a long time disliker of Madonna, I honestly thought she’d handle her advancing years much differently.
Instead of leaning to an extreme over-reliance on Photoshop or filters to make 50- and 60-something herself look as though she’s 25 or 30 years old, I sincerely thought years ago, well, she might get a facelift or two as she gets older, and do a bit of tweaking on some photos, but she will more or less let her hair go grey, NOT hide the lines, and tell anyone who puts her down for looking older to go and get bent.
That attitude would be more in line with the 1980s Madonna I grew up with.
But that is definitely not the direction she’s been taking the last few years.
I honestly find it very surprising that Madonna is trying to depict herself as though she is still 23 years old, well into her sixties.
Madonna is trying to dress like a 15 or 22 year old in the year 2022, and she’s having her social media posts airbrushed to such an extraordinary degree she doesn’t even look much like herself any more.
If you had told me back in the 1980s that Madonna would end up like this – in denial about aging, and instead of “owning” her years, trying to “hide” them with excessive filtering, etc, I would’ve had a hard time believing it.
I’ve seen some of Madonna’s dwindling fan base online express disappointment about how she’s filtering or photoshopping her images into oblivion.
It’s not only disappointing to a lot of them, but some of them find it ridiculous and cringe-worthy.
Many people are saying in comments where they are posting and discussing her photos, “Doesn’t she know that we know that she’s in her 60s, and that she doesn’t look like this in real life?”
Some guy on IG (Instagram) who claims to be a fan recently took a batch of photos from Madonna’s heavily filtered social media photos and re-aged them. Madonna herself saw this guy’s post and left him the “middle finger” emoji. (I have posted more about that below.)
I don’t begrudge Madonna or anyone going under the knife to remove a few lines or wrinkles, and I don’t even begrudge people for doing a small amount of work on their social media photos to airbrush out the odd wrinkle or acne, but Madonna (and others online) seem to be going way, way over-board with it.
I don’t see anything “rebellious,” daring, or pushing back on American and European fixation on youth with Madonna dressing like a teen when she’s 60-something, and air-brushing her photos so that she looks like she’s still 20. If anything, it comes across as looking desperate, out of touch, and pathetic.
I have more examples in various threads at the anti-Madonna discussion board with more links to more editorials and articles about Madonna’s weird preoccupation about dressing or airbrushing herself as though she’s still 21 years old, though she’s in her 60s now, with more photographic examples of such. I didn’t feel like putting all those additional examples all in this one post on this blog (which I should really update more often but rarely get around to).
More discussion on other sites about Madonna’s alien-looking appearance:
MADONNA’s fans have been left in shock by her “frozen” face, with some saying they think the pop star now looks like an “ALIEN”.
The 63-year-old modeled the bold look as she teased her new music video.
…FANS REACT
Madonna’s bone structure appeared different in the photos, while many fans took to the comments section to discuss her appearance.
Many implied the singer resembled an alien, as a handful of fans simply commented with alien emojis.
Another person bluntly wrote: “Looks like an alien. yuck.”
An additional Instagram user told her to “stopppppp” changing her appearance, while one person said her face looked “frozen” in the snap.
A following person chimed in: “Who is her surgeon !! She looks so amazing!!!!!”
The backlash continued as someone else wrote: “Your face is very different..its terrible.”
“Her face look like a boomerang,” another person commented.
Madonna’s Photoshopped Images – subreddit, examples, threads
A few sample threads from Reddit (main link right above):
(see comments on their page, below the photo): 
She looks good in her 60s, why would she do this?
(see comments on their page, below the photo):
63 is beautiful. Why try to look like 23?
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Who is more photoshopped here? (Madonna vs. Kim Kardashian)
(see comments below the photo on their page):
She thinks we don’t know how old she is?
(see comments below the photo on their page):
When your hands say 63 but your face says 40.
(see comments below the photo on their page):
You just can’t look like this at 62.
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Instagram (2021) vs in person (2019). The heavy Facetune makes her unrecognizable. She’s 62.
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Pores? I don’t even need a nose.
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Miss the days when she looked real
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Madonna – album promo pix, before and after
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Who’s that girl? 62 never looked so pointy!
(see comments below the photo on their page):
Combo of bad fillers and editing makes this gorgeous artist look like an alien 😦
Madonna is on their list:
#7 A Very Famous 63 Year Old Woman [Madonna] Completely Unrecognizable
by Ieva Gailiūtė and Mindaugas Balčiauskas
for Bored Panda site
March 2022
From time to time, many of us slightly exaggerate our daily lives online. 
One study has found that only 29% of people would post a picture of themselves on social media without editing it first.
After all, we tend to promote our best moments while leaving out the bad or the mundane.
When it comes to the world of face filters and airbrushing techniques, enhancing your favorite features and reshaping your body has become terrifyingly easy. In fact, some Instagrammers edit their photos so much, there’s a whole community dedicated to calling them out.
Enter the Instagram Reality subreddit, where people are on a mission to expose those who have taken it way too far.
As the moderators write, “it’s unbelievable how some people get away with it while others don’t!” So take a look at some of the best posts this online group had to offer right below. And if you’re in the mood for some more ridiculous manipulations, check out our previous posts about them here, here, and here.
Earlier on, Bored Panda reached out to the head moderator of Instagram Reality, Zaza9000. They told us they try to keep this online community easy to engage with and be a part of, which is one of the reasons why this subreddit has become so popular. “Last year, so many people have shared interesting stories from their personal lives,” the moderator added, saying they really hope this trend continues.
As of today, this online group has amassed more than 1M members who reveal how some Instagrammers go way overboard with their photoshopping skills.
However, Zaza9000 said that recently there has been more and more interest in video editing. “Especially apps like Facetune2 and SNOW that allow you to edit your body and certain Instagram filters that can make your lips appear bigger and make your skin unrealistically perfect. Seeing them glitch in videos has been a really popular topic on the sub,” they explained.
#5 A Very Famous 63 Year Old Woman [Madonna] Completely Unrecognizable
(Photo of Madonna)
(Comments below Madonna’s filtered IG photo by site readers):
comment by Nathaniel
Is that supposedly Madonna?
comment by Hendawg
she forgot to photoshop her hands . .lol
comment by Josh Tall
and that wrinkly elbow!
Rabbit Carrot
Yep and while a lot of that is photoshop she’s also had a crazy amount of work done recently and looks ridiculous.
comment by Hawkmoon
Like a virgin… with 60 years old arms.
Anonymous Female
was just thinking the same thing, forgot to take care of her hands and arms in this one. lol
comment by BensMom
Yep, just check out her knuckles and crepey skin on forearms.
Imogene Cargeaux
She’s been caught photoshopping her face onto random womens bodies that she found on Instagram. Google “Madonna photoshopped her face onto my body” it’s f*cken wild
Anna Litical
“Rolls eyes” . Madonna you do NOT look like that. Nothing can stop you ageing.
Jo Choto
But look at her elbow that’s resting on the leg. It’s really sad. She was all about breaking barriers and taboos. She could have been a kick-ass 63 year old, but instead, she is just faking being a teenager in her photos.
Sandra Libertad
I’ve been a huge fan my whole life, I mean hard core fan, but now Is embarasing to me even to watch her face or her posts. Such a pitty
Sinead Kenny
The hands and the arm wrinkles give her away. Hence why she always wears fingerless gloves…
comment by Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
I notice the only pictures of her anymore are ones she takes herself inside her home.
Nelson Ricardo
Disgusting.
Tiny Dancer
Can’t even be bothered to edit out the tag on the floor or is that what the “kids” are doing these days so it’s cool? I’m almost as old as Madonna. Somehow, I seem to be getting cooler as she just keeps getting sadder.
Melissa Mayhem
I was the biggest Madonna fan growing up. Now, I pity her and her very evident body dysmorphia.
QueenRhye
She’s like The Headshot of Dorian Gray where her face stays beautiful and her body just decays under it for everyone to see.
K M
If she sneezes, everything cracks and falls off.
comment by Viktorija Dimitrova
At least her arms look almost 63
Kookamunga
Madonna needs to know that she can do this aging thing with some dignity, you know? I can’t wait to see how she looks at 80.
Braineating Spleen
I can tell it’s ol’ Madge coz she’s dressed like she’s going a 3/4 life crisis
Tom Jacobs
When’s it all going to stop Madonna?!
Mariah Noel
The hands don’t match the face….
KellyO
i was never much of a fan, but her and that dumb kardashian mom are prime examples of societal pressure on women, especially women, to stay ‘forever young’. it’s sad in lots of ways. in cartman voice: ahmagad, madanna is so cooooooooo. ahve luvvved her since the 40’s.
KombatBunni
Forgot to fix the arms and hands there Madge, bit of a giveaway!
Melanie Hope
Well the arms have crepey skin but the face looks a lot like Kylie Jenner.
Karri Berkowitz
Madonna smh should of edited the arms too
Florida, but without the beach go
People know Madonna is old and doesn’t look like she’s 20 anymore. She’s not fooling anyone. It’s unfortunate that she cannot accept herself
Om
the thing with Madonna is that she’s always sought to cause controversy, and she still does.
Some may say it’s sad, but in her head she’s still accomplishing her goal of breaking social norms, behaving the opposite of what society expects her to, according to her gender, her age, her position, etc.
To me it’s sadder that the musical aspect has kinda stayed in the background and she focuses so much on social media instead of making music videos or something like that
SabbeRubbish
You see the age from her right arm clearly
Lara Verne
It looks fairly normal, until you look at her elbows. And name.
Nunya Business
Fake, Fake, Fake, Fake.
CanadianPanda
I follow her IG. It’s like watching a train wreck but you just can’t look away. Her pictures look like she’s made out of wax!
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife
Madonna seems to be a huge fan of the “Gaussian blur” or “poreless android” filters. She’s going to be like the Cassandra character from Doctor Who: MOISTURIZE ME!
Pezor Zass
surprised they missed the loose skin on her arm and hand
Alma Muminovic
Her hands look 63.
Insert Generic Username
Seeing her Instagram posts compared to other people’s posts of her is WILD. There’s nothing wrong with looking your age but she seems to think there is
Minnie-me
her gross old lady hands give it away anyway
Excerpts:
….Princess of Pop Madonna, 63, is no exception. The singer posted a series of remarkably young-looking snaps on her Instagram today.
Fans joked she looked like a teenager, while others remarked on her teeth which appeared bizarrely white and missing their infamous gap.
Madge is not alone in being caught out, with the Kardashians and reality stars like Chloe Ferry serial offenders.
Madonna, 63, shocks fans with “creepy” baby-faced photos
Feb 21, 2022
by Amanda Killelea
Madonna has always liked to shock and has left fans reeling with a series of youthful Instagram snaps.
Posing in a black puffer gilet, holding a glass of white wine and with seemingly flawless skin, the 61-year-old singer captioned the shots “Tryin to Make a Movie……..It’s Really Hard? Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way!”
And while some fans praised her beauty others questioned how natural her look actually was.
One user commented: “You are so naturally beautiful”, while another replied: “natural? her face is 99.99% plastic.”
Another user described the photos as “So creepy”, while someone else posted: “Can you show one photo without filters? It’s ok to age! And you can make it look graceful too….no need to pretend to be a teenager…not cool,” another said.
“She looks 16,” someone else wrote, with another person agreeing, “You look younger than your daughter jeez.”
MADONNA had a stark message for her critics as she continued to post incredibly youthful pictures online.
The 63-year-old singer looked like a teenager in a series of selfies she has shared in recent weeks.
Today she scribbled a series of messages over new pictures of her face, with one reading: “Don’t f**k with me!”
Another showed her looking unimpressed with the message: “I’m sure I don’t have stupid written across my forehead.”
A third saw her posing with lighter hair alongside the words: “Blonde ambition.”
Some of her recent posts have left followers shocked with one saying of the apparently heavily filitered snaps: “She looks 16!”
She was also recently mistaken for a Kardashian in a new snap where she looked younger than ever – despite being nearly a pensioner.
The Queen of Pop posed topless in an Instagram selfie as one fan gasped: “She’s aging backwards.”
Another said: “Omg now even Madona looks like a a Kardashian” while a third asked: “Why are you trying to look like Kim Kardashian?”
Madonna followed up the snap the following day with an equally fresh-faced shot as she raised a glass to the camera showing off her nails.
While she was widely hailed as beautiful, others urged her embrace her age with one writing: “Please stop. Be 62.”
Another wrote: “Madonna is not Madonna anymore.”
The singer has long been determined to defy conventions, posting X-rated pictures online even in her 60s.
DataLounge Thread about Madonna and 50 Cent (singer)
Madonna had her image with singer 50 Cent airbrushed before she put it on her social media accounts (this would’ve been around December 2021 when she posted this to her social media account):
Madonna shares rude middle finger snap while fans accuse her of ‘editing’ her photos
Madonna has taken to Instagram to share a rude middle finger snap while fans accused her of ‘editing’ her photos. This comes after the singer warned fans ‘don’t f*** with me”
Feb 24, 2022
by Mollie Quirk
Madonna has come under fire for her latest set of sizzling snaps, with some fans asked her to stop filtering her photos.
Excerpts:
Feb 25, 2022
Madonna may be the mistress of self-reinvention, but it seems the 63-year-old is taking her latest attempt too far.
The singer sparked derision from fans this week when she shared a series of flawless images in which she appeared decades younger, with nary a wrinkle, blemish or hint of jowl to be seen.
Yet she is far from alone. With so many filters now available to help you tweak your selfies, whether they’re inbuilt Instagram ones such as ‘baby face’ or apps like FaceApp and FaceTune, anyone can shave off years, apply instant make-up and even remodel their bone structure, so few people have to see what they really look like.
…While some of her fans questioned her for ‘editing’ her photos, with one asking: “Can we get some non-facetuned pics? Please.”
Another then critiqued: “You wear grillz, overuse filters, and give the middle finger all the time. So edgy! Such an artistic statement! Am I describing Madonna or a teenager?”
Madonna shaded over ‘retouched’ #10Yearchallenge post: ‘Are you sure this isn’t edited’
by Taryn Ryder
January 15, 2019
As celebrities flaunt how they (supposedly) haven’t aged in 10 years with Facebook’s viral challenge, there are a few side-by-side pictures that haven’t gone over so well … like Madonna‘s new post.
The “glow-up challenge,” as it’s been dubbed, asks people to post their Facebook profile photo (or any old photo) from a decade ago next to a recent snapshot. The 60-year-old legend did just that, only the picture she chose from 2018 appears to be a tad edited.
“Can we see without a filter?” the most-liked comment reads.
“Are you sure this isn’t edited and retouched? Cause you definitely don’t be looking like that in your videos and candids,” another person wrote.
“Photoshop out and the ‘magic’ is gone!!!! Stop using filter and show us the reality. Only blind fans will believe [you] do look that good and fresh,” sassed one user.
“Stop torturing yourself, you have to know how to accept growing old and a woman who has wrinkles is a beautiful woman too so accept without filter without botox and implants you would be much more beautiful and less ridiculous than want to look like your 20 year old daughter,” another person added. “You have had the right to your youth and now she has passed … Accept as a woman of 60 years!”
“Really gurl bye she knows damn well she doesn’t look like that now,” someone else commented.
To be fair… at least Madonna used the same filter 10 years apart.
Madge’s appearance has been a hot topic online recently. After a surprise New Year’s Eve performance, the Material Girl’s backside was debated amongst fans as it appeared bigger. It didn’t take long before blogs speculated whether she got butt implants and Madonna responded in typical Madonna fashion.
Madonna flaunts filter-free look on the streets of NYC
by Evan Real
October 2021
After treating an exclusive crowd to a secret concert underneath New York City’s Red Rooster restaurant at Ginny’s Supper Club on Friday, Madonna took to the streets of Harlem, flaunting a filter-free look.
The superstar, 63, fled the event with a choir in tow, later performing her hit song “Like a Prayer” on the steps of a local church.
Though Her Madgesty looked more glamorous than ever in a fitted black ensemble, sparkling jewelry and long blonde hair in photos from the night, some social media wags couldn’t help but comment.
“Real life vs instagram 😳,” one person tweeted alongside side-by-side photos of the singer, while another echoed, “Madonna, Reality Vs the pic she posts of herself on Insta..”
It wasn’t long before Madonna’s fans fired back at critics who took aim at her differing appearances.
These Unretouched Pictures of Madonna Are Shocking -from 2014
Excerpts:
by May Sofi
November 20, 2014
Madonna is known as an iconic superwoman whose beauty truly stands the test of time. At 56 years old, she looks better than most girls in their 20s, both in her killer physique (including a ripped six pack and super toned arms) and in her flawless, porcelain-like skin.
The woman just doesn’t seem age. However, unretouched photos of Madonna from a 2010 Interview photo shoot surfaced on Thursday, and the Photoshop difference is quite shocking, making us question this very notion.
…But as the years go by and she gets older, she’s GOT to have at least a few wrinkles or skin imperfections, right? I think we all know that. That’s why the Photoshop job on this 2010 shoot is a bit extreme, IMO. The images have been edited to the point of concealing every single discoloring, wrinkle, vein, or imperfection on her face, making it look like her skin is literally a blank canvas.
They even enhanced her cheekbones to look more sharp and defined — so unnecessary. Extreme editing makes it a bit embarrassing and real awkward when the unretouched images come out, which seems to happen more often than not. It’s totally normal and natural to look your age, which should be celebrated, not changed.
This guy, who claims to be a Madonna fan and a digital artist, re-aged Madonna’s fake, de-aged photos. She apparently left a comment under his IG post with a “middle finger” emoji.
Madonna Re-Aged Photos by HidReley on Instagram
Samples from HidReley’s work:
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Madonna didn’t like that guy’s work on her photos, where he made her look more like what she actually does, rather than in her hyper- filtered, hyper- Photoshopped delusional self-image, so she left him a comment with some “eye roll” emojis, and a “middle finger” emoji (the guy made a post of that, with a screen shot of it, here, on his Instagram account).
(Edit: that link no longer appears to be working, so I will put in a small screen grab of it below – you can see below where he put a screen capture on his site showing that the official Madonna IG account left him several “eye roll” emojis and one “flipping the bird” emoji in response to his re-aged images of her):
Related materials from other sources:
I found this photo below on E-bay months ago – the seller didn’t have a lot of information about it, that I can recall. She looks quite haggard here; this is very unlike the smooth-complexion, polished images she has in her social media posts, and I think this was taken around 2008, 2010?
via E-bay, here:
Madonna With Sad Face 8×10 Picture Celebrity Print
Madonna’s over-use of filters and airbrushing seems to have intensified in the last 3 – 5 years, to the point regular articles about it are now being published on sites like “The Sun,” “Daily Mail,” and “The Mirror,” and even former fans of hers are on other sites pointing out how ridiculous her filtered- beyond- excess- photos of herself are.
I never did like the woman, but her seeming inability or reluctance to accept that she’s aging comes across as very sad – not as “rebellious,” nor as “confronting societal stereotypes about older women,” “daring,” “brave,” or however else she’d likely frame it, but as just plain sad.
I sometimes see Madonna’s one-time fans (they self identify as long time fans, some say they are fans no more) turn up under comments at sites like “D-Listed” and elsewhere to say they are either sad about how she turned out, or mortified.
They say they used to be big time fans of hers, but now that they’re in their 40s or 50s, they are starting to see some of the same qualities in Madonna that I did going back to the 1980s that turned me off to her back then.
Madonna has always been arrogant, terribly self absorbed, vulgar, unoriginal, and she traded physical looks, sexuality, and controversy to keep her name in the papers – just to name a few of her off-putting traits. It was there all along, even back in the 1980s.
I don’t know why it took the rest of Gen X (and maybe older Millennials) as long as it did to catch on to how horrible she is, to finally pick up on what I saw in her all along.
I think as she gets older and older and keeps looking as though she’s out of touch with reality, by presenting these obscenely overly-filtered images of herself where she’s trying to pass as a 21 year old (among other things she keeps doing), it becomes more and more obvious to her one-time fans that she’s not quite the brave, daring, “I don’t care what people think of me” individual she presented herself as being in the 1980s and 1990s.
She’s in her 60s now pulling this nonsense, I can only presume she’s going to keep doing this well into her 70s and 80s too, unless she has a change of heart for some reason or decides to fully retire and give up the pop star type persona and career.
On some level, she must be deeply insecure. As I said above, it’s very sad.
Related Posts:
Madonna Blows Chunks 
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