Tori Spelling’s Mom, 80, Sparks Backlash With Heavily Edited Cover

Candy Spelling is best known as the mother of actress Tori Spelling and the widow of the late Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling. However, the 80-year-old theater producer’s strikingly youthful cover on this month’s Westlake Malibu Lifestyle magazine has people talking for a different reason, with some critics calling it the product of “NASA-level filters.”

In the cover photos, shot by Fadil Berisha, Spelling wears her blonde hair in voluminous waves and curtain bangs. She wears a peachy-brown smoky eye and fluttery lashes, while coral blush sculpts her cheekbones and pink gloss tops off the look.

It’s not Spelling’s hair and makeup that make her appear so young, though. Her face and skin are remarkably taut and smooth for someone in their eighties—or their forties, for that matter. Her face shows little, if any, texture, leading many commenters to speculate about the heavy editing used in her photos.

In another photo from the shoot, Spelling wears a deep V-neck blouse, her décolletage looking eerily smooth and wrinkle-free. Even her hands—often a telltale sign of a person’s age—are free of a single line, spot, or scar.

Instagram users were quick to call out Spelling’s ageless appearance, suggesting that filters and AI were used to achieve it. “What in the AI is this?” asked one person, commenting beneath the magazine’s post.

“AI and Photoshop [are] working overtime in this pic,” said another.

Another commenter compared Spelling to her famous daughter, 52-year-old actress Tori Spelling, writing, “Tori doesn’t even look this young. 😮”

One of the most popular comments came from user @robrtshane, who said, “I thought that was @trishapaytas.” Trisha Paytas is a 37-year-old reality and YouTube star. (Many staffers at The Looker shared their reaction to the cover.) Others compared Spelling to Gizelle Bryant, the 55-year-old star of The Real Housewives of Potomac.

Spelling first rose to fame as the wife of television producer Aaron Spelling, who created hit shows like Charlie’s Angels and Beverly Hills, 90210. Candy and her late husband had two children: Tori and Randy Spelling, 47, a life coach.

After her husband died in 2006 following complications from a stroke, Spelling began to produce Broadway shows. Her production of The Color Purple, which cast Wicked star Cynthia Erivo as its central character, won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical in 2016.

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On FauxMoi, Reddit’s popular entertainment and celebrity gossip board, Spelling’s cover was posted with a caption that offered a short, sharp take on the situation: “I feel like we are being gaslit at this point.”