Gabourey Sidibe Responds to ELLE Controversy; Mag Says Nothing ‘Out Of The Ordinary’ Done

Following widespread online claims that ELLE magazine lightened Gabourey Sidibe’s skin for the their 25th anniversary issue, the Oscar-nominated actress and the fashion mag are sounding off to Access Hollywood about the controversy.

Despite the cries of Photoshopping foul, a rep for the 27-year-old actress told Access that she is excited to be gracing the cover of the fashion glossy.

“Gabourey is absolutely thrilled to be on the cover of ELLE magazine’s 25th anniversary issue,” the rep said.

A rep for the mag told Access that Gabourey’s cover was treated just like any other.

“Nothing out of the ordinary was done. We have four separate covers this month and Gabby’s cover was not retouched any more or less than the others. We had 25 cover worthy subjects in our portfolio and we chose Gabby because of who she is,” a rep for ELLE said in a statement to Access.

Adding, “We shot this as a story of exuberant young women changing the world. If you take a looks at the portfolio in its entirety, each of the women were shot in different ways and for different reasons. “

The October issue of ELLE has three other cover versions, featuring Megan Fox, Lauren Conrad and Amanda Seyfried.