Faye Dunaway is 75 years old and she has a history of eccentric behavior, but this story made me sad. Dunaway was invited to this year’s Cannes Film Festival to attend some red carpets, especially the amfAR gala last Thursday night. I didn’t realize that they actually serve food at the amfAR gala, although that makes sense. I mean, of course they feed people. I guess I just thought that people probably don’t eat much. And as it turns out, Faye Dunaway didn’t want to eat too much. She brought a food scale to the gala and she was discreetly weighing her food.
Hollywood film legend Faye Dunaway arrived at amfAR’s star-studded gala in Cannes, France, with the most unusual accessory — a scale to weigh her food and calculate her calories. Famously feisty Dunaway appeared at a table at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc with film producer Tova Laiter, and a bulging paper bag. Then, a spy said, “She sat at her dinner table and pulled out the scale from a paper bag.”
The stick-thin screen siren then proceeded to weigh all her food — including her leafy salad. The “Chinatown” actress, 75, “asked for a very bland meal,” a spy at the event said, “which she then proceeded to weigh. She weighed all of her food, including her salad and fish, before eating. We’ve seen a lot of stars make strange requests, but this was a sight.”
You know why this makes me sad? Because I hope that if and when I reach the age of 75, I will not really give a sh-t about how much my food weighs. If I make it to 75, I’m eating the cupcakes. And the French fries. And the prime rib. While it’s totally possible that she was weighing her food for some medical reason – the request for bland food might be a clue there – it’s also possible that after a lifetime of Hollywood diets, Faye Dunaway is still on a diet at her age. And that’s depressing.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Faye Dunaway was such a beautiful woman back in the day, and a talented actress. Those pictures make me sad.
Her face is not so much her age as all the horrible work she’s had done. She’s unrecognizable in that first photo.
if she hadn’t been identified, I never would have recognized her.
Me neither. I remember her from Ally McBeal and she looks so different, I’d have no clue. And you bet I’d be downing the cupcakes!!
She has Kardashian camel lip – when they reduce their noses so much that there is too much space between the nose and the upper lip. Take a look, Kimmy.
It’s not just the horrible plastic surgery, it’s that her expression is SO unhappy. There are others her age who have had too much plastic surgery (Goldie Hawn comes to mind) yet still smile and appear to be at peace with themselves and enjoying life. As a result, I don’t notice so much the work they’ve had done. (at least until Daily Mail catches them in an unguarded moment and publishes a nasty pictorial about it).
Faye already had quite a long space between her nose and her upper lip. Now it looks like another forehead.
I’ve seem websites featuring Brigit Bardot as “not aging well”, but really, BB is just a normally aged person. I’m not sure celebrities will ever get approval no matter how the aging process is handled. Plus, at least she’s eating.
I thought she was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen, around the time of Bonnie & Clyde.
These photos make me sad too – her upper lip looks painful.
For me it was The Thomas Crown Affair. That chess playing scene….*puuuurrr*. Sexy.
Check out her cameo in Little Big Man. So gorgeous. This is sad.
I agree with Judy’s assessment. That’s not normal aging. Her distinctive features look like they have been melted down.
I can see a nose job and probably cheek implants.
Nobody talks about the effects of plastic on the long run: if you change your face you cannot know how your features will react once you start getting old.
If you cover up her nose and mouth you can recognize her eyes. But clearly she has had unfortunate work done. I don’t know of any illness that should require weighing food at a social event. It appears to be a weight obsession. Life is too short. Give me the dang cupcake!
She also had her teeth done a couple of times. When she was young, her teeth weren’t perfect, but natural, although quite big and long already. After having all her front teeth capped, it seems they are too big for her mouth. The whole area around her mouth looks strange.
She was like a high fashion model who could actually act — a lethal combination. Shame what has happened.
I wish people would learn to stop going overboard with plastic surgery. Age gracefully not gruesomely. She is unrecognizable.
Yup that was my first reaction. Her beautiful face is gone! I don’t know if this is a slow slide from her previous work or she got horrible work done but I did not recognize her by just looking at her.
Unfortunately aging sucks – especially in terms of food consumption. My folks are in their 70s and they were told to lay off the sweets (high blood sugar), fatty foods (steak) and fried food (cholesterol). At her age, I understand why she asked for “bland” food but the weighing is sort of overkill.
The best time to enjoy all the sinful foods is in your 20s!
Maybe she’s a recently diagnosed diabetic or something. My mom is of a similar age and has recently be diagnosed, and she weighs and measures her food. And is not overwieght or trying to loose weight.
I also think it’s probably due to medical reasons.
I was wondering the same thing. Although why not have her food delivered in advance rather than awkwardly pulling out a scale?
Maybe the Cannes people wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t let old ladies into screening last year unless they were wearing high heels.
That’s what I thought too. Even if you’re on a diet and weigh food at home you can eyeball in public to not look this peculiar, but if it’s a health thing then you may be more willing to adhere to super strict standards and not care about the weighing in public.
This is disconcerting to me because it sound like something my nutritionally-obsessed son would do. It sounds to me like an eating disorder or OCD.
Typically I think someone so fixated on calories wouldn’t go to an event like this, though, so I don’t know what to make of it.
I agree. I have a daughter that is anorexic and this is disordered behavior.
Absolutely. I cannot think of any disease or disorder that requires a certain weight of food. Restricting ingredients makes sense for lots of folks, but this looks like obsessive behavior.
I was anorexic through my late 30s and this is exactly the type of thing I did for every meal. It’s sad to think this talented, respected woman is suffering – at her age – with an eating disorder, but that’s certainly what it sounds like.
There was a quote from her saying she knew carrying the scale around made people make fun of her but, the scale works- it keeps her weight down and thin. Being thin was her stated objective.
My question/confusion is- after a month or 2 of weighing you learn pretty quickly what 4ounces of protein looks like etc. She’s been doing this for years.
So, to me, the weird thing is she still needs the scale to judge…
You’re right, she should be able to eyeball the portions pretty easily. Maybe she enjoys shaming people with the scale?
Yeah after using it all this time, she can’t just make a judgement call without bringing a scale to a gala? And it’s one meal, going an ounce over isn’t going to make her explode. That sounds like obsessive behavior to me.
I know someone who does this but with MyFitnessPal. Dining out with others she’ll get out her phone and put in everything’s she’s eating. Really showy about it too. At first I just thought she had a bit of a problem, but now it’s become pretty obvious she’s trying to make other people feel bad about what they’re eating. I noticed if she’s with a group of healthy enough men, she doesn’t do it. If she’s with any women or overweight men, the phone comes out.
Ha ha- I actually weigh lettuce sometimes myself! Usually when I’m weighing a pile of stuff anyway as I build a sandwich or sandwich-in-a-bowl… Tare,add, weigh, tare, add, weigh, etc. It’s a pretty quick method, much easier than eyeballing it or using measuring cups and spoons. I can even weigh the mayonnaise spreading it on bread or dumping in a bowl. Not worrying about calories, I just need a record and don’t want to kid myself about how much fruit and veg I actually am ingesting or how much protein and fiber. I don’t plan or restrict, just add what I want and weigh and record.
She’s old enough she can be as eccentric as she wants, for whatever reason. Digital scales are pretty small these days.
My grandmother never stopped trying to diet right up until she died at the age of 98. But she also knew how to party, and would never have passed up the opportunity for some good food and drinks.
Her face is scary. She looks like a fish. Maybe a grouper.
I first thought she was one of the Olsen twins aka death eaters. Although I read further down that maybe it’s for medical reasons so I shouldn’t be too snarky
SMDH
to everything, the story and the picture. sad.
I can promise, that I will not be weighing my food at that age and if I am watching my calorie intake at the age of 75—I am sure by then I can eyeball it accurately. I surely will not weight my salad, I’ll need all the greens I can get.
I weigh most things. It’s really not a big deal, and seeing as how obesity is running rampant, more people should try it. It really is an eye opener.
right…but any behavior can go too far, no?
Requesting a bland meal isn’t unusual. Weighing the food however is strange and sad.
My nana use to say the whole purpose of growing old was being able to say, eat and do whatever the hell you wanted. It’s something to look forward to. Unless Dunaway is weighing for medical diet reasons, this makes me really sad.
My mom is 74 and she told me she had a salad at dinner cause she’s trying to lose some weight. I feel like women spend so much time and effort trying to control their weight. I wish I was one of those people who is naturally thin. So much of my life is spent either trying to accept my weight gain or trying to lose it. Now I’m trying to lose weight but every time I do, I gain it back. So it’s like, if i do lose weight, I have to keep on doing what I’m doing for the rest of my life or I’m just going to gain it back. And even more as I get older. It’s so depressing..
I know what you mean. It often really upsets me to think about how much of my time is spent thinking about my weight. It’s such a huge waste of time and such a dumb metric to value myself on. I feel like I have my life together in a lot of areas and yet I still seem to place all this value on something so trivial. I’m not even overweight. Life is short and I wish it was so easy to just say f it to this dumb stuff.
This article is touchy area to go. I have medical issues that have caused me to go on low fodmap diet. We weigh portions of carbs. I have had bacterial infection and endometriosis. I’m suppose to eat only hockey puck of rice. You never know w Hollywood but eating in public when on a special diet is horrible. You fear people think you have an eating disorder.
Yeah, I have to assume this is medical/ hope it is medical. As long as she was discrete about it, what’s the harm?
How is being on a diet at 75 any different than exercising at 75?Most people who exercise are doing it for vanity reasons as well as health reasons.
maybe she’s doing Grey Sheet. If so, the weighing may be to ensure she eats *enough*
Yes, I have to keep records to make sure I don’t go too low myself. My tracker yells at me with a warning when I do, although I don’t worry as long as other days I eat enough more. I have some medical issues that can kill the appetite when flaring and can get into too fast weight loss mode rather easily during such times. Which I definitely don’t want. I also need to make sure I’m getting enough variety and enough fruit/veg. The tracker also makes it so easy to look over the record to see what in the world I might have eaten (or not) that could explain other issues… 🙂 Otherwise, my appetite is well matched to my needs unless I start eating too much junk. Tracking can help keep the junk ingestion down and my innards happier. So it’s not always about calories.
After a lifetime of diets, and obviously procedures, this doesn’t surprise me. The rigid self-discipline dictates her whole life, it seems (if it wasn’t for medical reasons). But it doesn’t do her any good; she looks awful, but most importantly, very unhappy. If I look at other actresses her age like Barbra Streisand, Shirley MacLaine, Ellen Bursteyn etc., this makes me sad.
She doesn’t look healthy. Something is off with her skin tone. Maybe its her make up…
As long as there were no wire hangers there!
Lol
That was a my second thought….cousins maybe?
That is such a shame. Makes me sad too.
It reflects in her face too, she doesnt look healthy. Pale, grey and dull.
I think Candace Bergin finally said what the hell and stopped dieting and started enjoying her food. I think she said that in an interview recently. She said she’s been watching her weight all her life and now is the time to stop and enjoy.
Faye Dunaway is an icon to me. She played so many great roles so well. She should still be given great roles, but we know Hollywood doesn’t play that (after an actress hits 40, she slowly disappears bit by bit). Marlon Brando was acting in his 70’s and getting plenty of reverence. In music, Bob Dylan is a genius and the voice of his generation (and I’m not saying he’s not), but Joni Mitchell doesn’t get one-tenth the attention or respect.
Who cares if she weighs her food? A lot of people do and it’s a good way to make sure you aren’t overeating. I think it’s actually kind of cool that she doesn’t give a crap if anyone sees her scale. Most thin people didn’t get that way by accident, it takes discipline. More power to her I say. Her plastic surgery is bad though.
Hear hear!
Jesus, Mary and Joseph …..I accidentally enlarged that picture and almost died from fright. What the hell happened to her? And did she get a large malpractice settlement?
Why bother weighing your food when you’ve got a face like that?
So you’re never going to get older and maybe have health issues?
All women are vulnerable to aging.
I don’t know why some women keep messing up their faces. I see it a lot out here in L.A. obviously, and there was nothing wrong with them to begin with.
What’s most alarming to me is that she looks so sad. She’s in her seventies, she should enjoy every day of her life-she deserves it.