Kardashian team working hard to remove unwanted Khloe photo

A picture of an unfiltered Khloe Kardashian in a bikini leaked on Instagram at the weekend, and her team are trying to take it down.

Team Kardashian is going into overdrive to erase a private photo showing a side of Khloé few outside of the family get to see.

The image shows the reality star’s face and body, as she appears in a bikini by a pool, without the heavy editing and airbrushing that are mainstays of photos Kardashian normally puts on Instagram.

The shot — which Page Six has confirmed is authentic — soon spread around the internet, surfacing on social media and on Reddit.

But many copies of the photo were taken down under legal threats from the Kardashian camp, which called the image “beautiful” but said they wanted it gone because it was unauthorised.

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Khloe Kardashian. Picture: Instagram

“The colour edited photo was taken of Khloé during a private family gathering and posted to social media without permission by mistake by an assistant,” Tracy Romulus, chief marketing officer for KKW Brands, said in a statement.

“Khloé looks beautiful but it is within the right of the copyright owner to not want an image not intended to be published taken down.”

Another Reddit user claims none other than Kim Kardashian contacted her via Twitter DMs asking her to remove the pic, calling it a “doctored stolen photo” taken “in the worst lighting.”

A second source told us that the photo was snapped while Khloé, whom fans have called out for her ever-changing face, was mid-conversation over the weekend and features some edits.

However, the edits were not at the normal level for campaigns for her clothing label, Good American, which bills itself as “Representing Body Acceptance.”

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Not the photo in question: One of Khloe Kardashian's own bikini photos on her Instagram page. Picture: Instagram/khloekardashian

The insider also said it’s not uncommon for teams to request that accounts delete photos that are re-shared illegally.

In February, Khloé posted a rare, close-up look at her stretch marks. “I love my stripes,” Khloé wrote.

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The star’s famous friends and followers applauded her post, with hairstylist Jen Atkin commenting, “Yes you did!” and reality star Melissa Gorga writing, “That’s a woman right there.”

This story originally appeared on NY Post and has been reproduced here with permission