A representative for Mischa Barton has hit out at money-hungry publications printing unflattering photos of the actress - insisting the images were manipulated in a bid to sell more magazine copies.

Images of 22-year-old Barton, many of which showed her topless and with cellulite on her thighs, were splashed in various magazines and newspapers and online last week.

And although Barton has insisted she's happy with her body, her spokesperson Lisa Perkins is adamant someone tampered with the photos to suit their own financial gain.

Perkins tells The New York Daily News, "Those photos are doctored. I'm not saying she's perfect, nobody is. But they've given a 22-year-old woman the legs and bottom of an 80-year-old."

"Look at the shots that were taken shortly before on a beach in Los Angeles. Did she develop all that cellulite in a couple of weeks? There's a lot you can do with Photoshopping."

Perkins also calls photographer Jamie Fawcett - who shot the images of the actress on vacation with her mother on Hamilton Island, off Australia's East Coast - a "parasite" out to make Barton look bad because "she called him out for taking the topless shots".