Remember "Photoshop fails"? The hilarious errors of fashion catalogues and magazines in which unsuspecting souls (overwhelmingly female, funny that) accidentally receive impossibly thin limbs, or lose their joints.
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We tend to not get them as much anymore, now that children are using the Adobe Creative Cloud set from birth with the same competency as those 20 years older used a set of Crayola wind-ups.
So, you can imagine Twitter's excitement when it emerged that maybe, just maybe, a Photoshop fail had slipped past many watchful eyes and made it onto the cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue.
12 extraordinary stars, one very momentous year. The 2018 Hollywood portfolio is here: https://t.co/6PfsFsPzK1 pic.twitter.com/MfRsp2y9Z3??? VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) January 25, 2018
The perceived victim is Reese Witherspoon, who has been a big name this awards season as the executive producer and star of Big Little Lies as well as one of the more vocal members of the Time's Up movement.
According to some, Witherspoon - seated in Oprah Winfrey's lap, as one Twitter user pointed out, like a child going to visit a department store Santa - appeared to have grown an extra leg in the cover shot.
The question was whether Witherspoon's left leg is attached to the shoe-wearing leg to the side of Oprah (and the perceived third leg is actually just the fabric of her dress in shadow, or if it not only in this position but also tucked almost entirely behind Oprah, coming to the right of her other leg(s).
im tryna figure out how many legs reese witherspoon's got in here, it's been bothering me for the last five minutes pic.twitter.com/u1uQ63sDdd??? space wifey ???? (@leiascaptain) January 25, 2018
Her flesh is not the same color as the inside of her dress. pic.twitter.com/xW6343LpVW??? Nichole ????????? (@tnwhiskeywoman) January 25, 2018
Oh no, there are definitely 3. Look at the top of the slit. One leg upright/standing, then 2 legs angled/crossed. pic.twitter.com/g1VK5yDI1v??? Elizabeth (@khamsin) January 25, 2018
Witherspoon herself weighed in on the controversy on Friday morning, joking that she hoped her fans would still "accept" her in her new tripedal form.
"Well ... I guess everybody knows now," the actor tweeted. "I have 3 legs. I hope you can still accept me for who I am."
Well...I guess everybody knows now...I have 3 legs. I hope you can still accept me for who I am. ????( and I will never apologize for snuggling @Oprah .. if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend it;) https://t.co/6GyrfWxNSY??? Reese Witherspoon (@RWitherspoon) January 25, 2018
Even Winfrey weighed in on Witherspoon's extra limb.
I accept your 3d leg. As I know you accept my 3d hand????????????????????????????????? Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) January 25, 2018
Alas, the correct explanation for Witherspoon's apparent third leg was the most boring one, as Vanity Fair revealed in a tweet.
"While we would have loved the exclusive on [Witherspoon's] three legs, unfortunately it's just the lining of her dress," the publication tweeted.
While we would have loved the exclusive on @RWitherspoon's three legs, unfortunately it's just the lining of her dress. https://t.co/HJjvbc037S??? VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) January 25, 2018
The annual Vanity Fair Hollywood issue began in 1995, the 100-year anniversary of cinema.
Its cover features the biggest names in Hollywood for the year, normally correlating with those receiving nominations throughout awards season.
This year's cover, shot by Annie Leibovitz, features Witherspoon and Winfrey, as well as Jessica Chastain, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Michael B. Jordan, Zendaya, Michael Shannon, Tom Hanks, Gal Gadot, Claire Foy, and Nicole Kidman.
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