Here’s what you need to know about the Khloe Kardashian bikini photo controversy

Khloe Kardashian is a beautiful woman, a great mom and a Keeping Up With The Kardashians fan favorite. This week, she’s been in the news due to the accidental release of an unaltered photo of her wearing a swimsuit. In the photo, Khloe is standing by a pool in a bikini, but the photo doesn’t feature the typical editing and airbrushing that most of her photos normally do.

The adorable pic was taken by her grandma, MJ and Khloe’s team has been working hard to get the image scrubbed from the internet.

“The color edited photo was taken of Khloé during a private family gathering and posted to social media without permission by mistake by an assistant,” Tracy Romulus, chief marketing officer for KKW Brands, said in a statement. “Khloé looks beautiful but it is within the right of the copyright owner to not want an image not intended to be published taken down.”

Many of her fans thought the photo in question was still just as gorgeous as all of her other photos—it was just more relatable because it wasn’t staged or Photoshopped. To address the controversy, Khloe shared a lengthy post to her Instagram account on Wednesday night.

“Hey guys, this is me and my body unretouched and unfiltered,” Khloé began her post, which included videos of her working out and wearing just underwear. “The photo that was posted this week is beautiful. But as someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, when someone takes a photo of you that isn’t flattering in bad lighting or doesn’t capture your body the way it is after working so hard to get it to this point – and then shares it to the world – you should have every right to ask for it not to be shared – no matter who you are.”

She mentions that people have often singled her out among the family in a negative way, which is both true and heartbreaking. She said the constant pressure of being a public figure and the constant focus on her looks has been “too much to bear.” In her statement, she lists the mean comments she’s had to read through the years.

“‘Khloé is the fat sister.’ ‘Khloé is the ugly sister.’ ‘Her dad must not be her real dad because she looks so different.’ ‘The only way she could have lost that weight must have been from surgery.'”

In the post, she acknowledges her immense privilege but also reminds fans that she’s still a person.

“She’s also on a reality show so she signed up for all of this,” she said people think, adding, “I’m of course not asking for sympathy but I am asking to be acknowledged for being human.”

Her response is no doubt honest and heartfelt, and a lot of people are empathizing with her and how difficult it must be to have your looks constantly under attack. Her family and many famous friends responded to her post with lots of love and support.

But a lot of other people are saying that while she’s valid in feeling like a victim of impossible beauty standards, she also regularly perpetuates them.

“But again you guys are the ones who are setting those standards for yourself, all you have to do is love yourself in whatever shape and form you are,” one Instagram user commented. “You don’t have to please anyone. Love and happiness come from within Khloe. You don’t need to share some videos, what do you want to gain from that. Learn and teach your daughter that she does not need validation from anyone.”

Another user pointed out that the unedited photo didn’t receive any hate, but a mostly positive response: “Don’t you think posting more unedited not so perfect pictures might make other women feel better about their bodies instead of airbrushing and blurring every imperfection?”

“I actually liked the pic that was posted,” another fan commented. “Thought you still looked amazing in real life.”

“I do have empathy, but this shows you can be both a victim and a perpetrator!” another comment read.

Fans everywhere love and support Khloe no matter what because she’s an awesome human being and fellow mama. She looks fabulous in any photo, at any size, in anything she wears—hopefully she learns to believe that, too.