To back up my comments on the rumors that Madonna hated her Hard Candy packaging shoot, here are some more outtakes—clearly unretouched—that reveal some of the concepts were not Klein's best and that Madonna looked like shit in a freezer at the time. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, date-wise (Joe?), but I really think Madonna's major surgery (which occurred prior to her Berlin trip) happened AFTER she completed this shoot, and possibly because of it. I think she saw this stuff and said, "Bloody hell!" and did the eyes and cheeks more. This could explain why she foolishly had work done immediately before being so public—it was an impulsive, unexpected decision.

All speculation.

There are scads more, but I can't post them all.

Granted, NOBODY takes good shots all the time; there are always outtakes. But these are, in my opinion, the worst studio shots of Madonna I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of unretouched stuff. Even the less gross ones of her lying on silk are pretty bracing—she looks like she is in a coffin!

Here lies Madonna:

I also hate seeing evidence that she has breast implants, but she does. I believe these were installed when she got older to regain the shape of her breasts. No 50-year-old Mama has Madonna's great boobs, even though Madonna's boobs were always real and perfect when she was younger.

Madonna thinks: "This is not going well..."

Now for some happier shots, how about these from her American Life-era Vanity Fair shoot? Lovely. (Also already retouched, so an unfair apples-to-apples comparison.)

I kinda feel bad for Madonna that leaks are so common these days. Who knows what abysmal outtakes exist of shoots even from her younger days. But if we fans are hungry kittens, eagerly lapping up the milk Madonna more often delivers, we fans are also maggots and we must feast on the dead flesh as well.