Washington, 38, shared on Instagram an early peek of herself on the cover of the March issue of InStyle on Wednesday.
"I'm thrilled to share with you all that I'm on the cover of this year's March instylemagazine! Can't wait for you guys to see it and read it! So honored. And crazy excited," she wrote.
Her fans slammed Instyle for allegedly photshopping the cover, reported the New York Post.
A second fan, said, "I loooove Kerry! But this doesn't look like her at all!"
A third person, a photographer going by the name papajgun, wrote, "Ok gotta be honest here - this picture does no credit to you kerrywashington, creatively or naturally, am a professional photographer and it's very obvious that it was intentional either via post production or lightening whilst on set to alter your normal look."
InStyle on Thursday defended the cover and insisted that it did not digitally lighten her skin.
The magazine did concede, though, that a photographer's lighting may have been responsible for the look.
"While we did not digitally lighten Kerry's skin tone, our cover lighting has likely contributed to this concern. We understand that this has resulted in disappointment and hurt," they said.
