Demi Lovato Does a Nude, No-Makeup, No-Retouching Photo Shoot—for a Powerful Reason

"I want to show the side of me that's real, that's liberated, that's free."

By Chelsea Peng

Oct 2, 2015

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Over the past few years, we've watched Demi come into her own, openly discussing her struggle to accept and love herself as she is and, in the process, becoming one of celebrity-dom's most vocal proponents of body positivity. In her boldest move yet, she dreamed up a spontaneous Vanity Fair photo shoot, for which the concept was "no makeup, no clothes, no retouching."

"If there's one thing I've learned in the past day, it's that life is too short," she said. "I'm about to launch an album that finally represents who I truly am. How do I embrace this new chapter in my life? How do I really walk the walk? What does it mean to be confident? It means letting go, being authentic, saying I don't give a f*ck and this is who I am. I want to show the side of me that's real, that's liberated, that's free. What if we do a photo shoot where it's totally raw? Super-sexy, but no makeup, no fancy lighting, no retouching, and no clothing. Let's do it here, let's do it now."

And she and photographer Patrick Ecclesine did do it, producing a series of beautiful images striking in their honesty. As she tells it in the video below, "It's empowering, and it shows other women you can get to a place where you can overcome the obstacles of body-image issues. And you can feel comfortable and confident in your skin."