A-List Celebs Reportedly Devastated Over Unflattering Photos at Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Vanity Fair’s annual Oscar party is the marquee event of Hollywood’s awards season. But some of the stars who got a coveted invite to last Sunday’s bash felt the event didn’t show them in their best light.
Hollywood insiders complain about ‘unforgiving’ Oscar night photos
Snaps of actors and other celebs on the red carpet at the yearly celebration are widely disseminated in the media and online in the days after the Academy Awards. But the harsh lighting in this year’s batch of photos meant that some of the stars looked haggard rather glamorous.
Usually, Vanity Fair takes care to use forgiving lighting on its red carpet, which leaves all attendees looking their best.
“I’ve been shot at a million parties, but the setup for that party was always sublime,” one Oscar party fixture told The Hollywood Reporter. “When you posed for the paps at the VF gala, even the ugliest stars knew they’d come out all right. It was like magic!”
But a venue switch and other snafus meant that the lighting this year was less kind. Bright lights had some attendees sweating. One guest joked that she was “literally having hot flashes.”
While some attendees took the less-than-ideal lighting in stride, others were upset that photos from the event exposed their fine lines, pores, and spots – minor blemishes that can be hidden with good lighting or filters on social media.
“It was just so unforgiving,” an insider said. “Like being shot in extremely high-def. You saw a lot of excess pounds and wrinkles that used to be hidden. Nobody wants to be photographed like that!”
One actor ‘went home and cried’ after seeing her photo
“I genuinely feel bad for some of these women. One poor actress looked like a Diane Arbus character,” another person said, referring to the photographer known for her portraits of circus performers, sex workers, and other people on the margins of society. “She was on her phone looking at her pictures and shrieking at her publicist. I heard that she went home and cried herself to sleep. Nobody has heard from her since!”
Many of the photos made the rounds on social media, with people commenting on the differences between the Oscar party snaps and the heavily edited photos stars often share. A photo of Kris Jenner – who has been open about her 2025 facelift – showed a noticeably less smooth face than the one her fans typically see. Other stars looked like they were posing for portraits on school picture day.
Still, insiders predicted that despite this year’s disappointing red carpet photos, stars would still be clamoring for an invitation to next year’s party.
“I’ll still go next year if I’m invited, but hopefully they won’t hire the lighting designer who did the 405,” one person said.
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