I don't think anything was done to the image on purpose either, when you cut out the pixel blur on the side I think that is were the confusion (pardon my pun :loveyou
comes in. *that did not happen on purpose*
So I opened up my computer and cut the background out also, I did not a thing to the image at all except use the magic lasso tool in photoshop. I can definitely see where that can happen, I tried not to do that and I did not use contrast, levels or curves to correct the photo. You can see the original next to it to compare. I think that helps, no?