You may have asked yourself this week, "Is that really Kim Kardashian's butt on the cover of Paper magazine?"
The Keeping Up With the Kardashian star set off to "break the Internet" this week with pics from a naked shoot for Paper magazine, one of her raciest yet. The photos, taken by French photographer Jean-Paul Goude, include a cover image showing her displaying her oiled-up bare butt, which has sparked memes, and another full-frontal one.
A third pic, a recreation of his 1976 portrait Carolina Beaumont, shows Kardashian from the side, clothed in a black, strapless gown and balancing a Champagne glass on her butt.
Several people have voiced skepticism regarding the authenticity of the photos. Paper's editorial director Mickey Boardman recently talked to E! News to debunk some rumors about the shoot and also detailed how Kardashian behaved throughout the process.
Check out three highlights from the interview and watch it in full above to find out how Kardashian reacted to the idea of posing nude, according to Boardman.
1. Is That Butt Real? "So many people have asked us, 'Oh, is that butt...it can't be real, it's padded, you added to it, in retouching...' That is all 100 percent Kim Kardashian," Boardman told E! News.
However, retouching was used "to clean it up and make it look as good as it can for a magazine cover," he said
"We did not create a body. We did not shave pounds of her waist," he added. "That is who she is. That's what she looks like. That's why she's a superstar."
2. How Did Kim Kardashian Behave on the Set? "She's the nicest, most professional cover subject I have ever worked with in 22 years, by far," said Boardman, who started out as an intern at the magazine in the early '90s.
Celebrities who have appeared on the cover of Paper in the past include Mariah Carey, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Tyra Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Lil' Kim, Queen Latifah, Kesha, Vanessa Hudgens and Adam Levine.
Boardman said Kardashian arrived on time, was polite and appeared "enthusiastic" and willing to stay as long as it took to complete the photo shoot. He added that she did not seem "hesitant' or "worried."
3. What Was Off-Limits? "The only thing that was off-limits, really, the only thing that held us back would be our own hesitation to ask someone, because we're so used to dealing with celebrities who don't want to do anything or who have to get permission from their publicist or have hang-ups about it," Boardman said.