On Friday, Danyel Smith, editor in chief of Vibe Magazine, stopped by New York’s KISS-FM radio station to respond to online rumors suggesting that Ciara is considering legal action against the magazine over its October cover and interior photos, which appear to depict the R&B songstress in the nude.

The reports claim that Ciara wasn’t actually nude during the photo shoot but was instead wearing underwear, which the magazine allegedly airbrushed away. The reports also said the singer was upset with the magazine over the “misleading” photos, which she reportedly felt “misrepresented” her.

On Friday, Smith said the magazine has not been sued, Ciara did indeed pose nude and the photo spread was actually the singer’s idea.

“It’s just dramatic,” Smith said during the interview. “I’m actually really sad. Almost any photo you see on the cover of Vibe or any magazine is airbrushed to some degree. What I was thinking of doing, actually, was releasing the unretouched photos on Vibe’s Web site, so people can see what the hullabaloo is all about.”

Smith said she was not present for the shoot but was told by her staff “it was love and kisses and nakedness.

“I have so much respect for Ciara,” she continued, “and Ciara was so happy when she pitched this idea to us, and the photos are actually striking and beautiful. … It was pitched to me in a way that it was time for her to grow up and be beautiful and be free and be all the things she wanted to be.”

Smith added that she suspects Ciara may not actually be as upset about the photos “as it’s been made to seem,” and reiterated that the magazine has not been sued by Ciara or anyone representing her. “Vibe would never put anybody out there man, woman or child in some way that they did not agree to be,” Smith said. “We have no history of doing that.”

MTV News’ calls for comment to Ciara’s reps last week were directed to attorney Donald Passman. A person in his office returned the call, saying, “It is against our policy to give out any information regarding clients associated with this business.”

However, Ciara reportedly spoke about the shoot with the DimeWars Web site, and had nothing but positive things to say about it.

“It was pretty fun,” she said. “It was my first time being this open for a photo shoot. This was my first cover for my new project, so it was a lot of fun. I’m in a different space now, I’m older. … I’m in an even more experimental and really fun-feeling phase right now, so I think a lot of that just came out when I was doing my photo shoot.”

Source: MTV