Plastic surgery is, for most Hollywood actresses, a career requirement as they age. So it’s interesting to hear a few opinions on the whole idea.
Jamie Lee Curtis
The 49-year-old actress has revealed she underwent surgery on her lower eyes when she was 35 after a cameraman told her she was too “puffy” for him to shoot, and she has had work done since.
But now Curtis is urging all women to grow old gracefully because it’s rare that people really do feel better about themselves after they go under the knife.
She tells Oprah Winfrey, “I did it all but, you know what, it didn’t work. The fraud is it doesn’t work; it doesn’t work because there are complications, and I got them all.
“It doesn’t work because you still look in the mirror and you see the fraud of what you were trying to do.”
Sally Field
The Places In The Heart star admits her ego has started to get the better of her – and she’s not happy about looking older.
She tells Ladies Home Journal magazine, “I think about it all the time because I see friends who’ve done it and they look great and younger. I have an ego but it’s an actor’s ego more than a woman’s ego. It’s about roles.”
Madonna
As her 50th birthday approaches in August, Madonna says she doesn’t plan to be defined by her age.
“I’m not going to slow down, get off this ride, stay home and get fat. No way!”
She won’t talk about any surgery she may have had, saying “I’m not against plastic surgery, I’m just against discussing it.”
Jamie Lee has an interesting opinion on this, in that she says it doesn’t work, because you know it’s a fraud. However, getting your hair colored, a facial, wearing make up and doing your nails are all a fraud too. Except, these things do tend to make women feel good.
How much of that ego boost is from the pampering aspect of a haircut (oh, two hours without my screaming kids!) and how much of it is from your improved appearance I’m not sure. You wouldn’t get the pampering effect from surgery – you’d just get a painful recovery period.
What is the definition of cosmetic surgery? Is botox surgery? Is dermabrasion? Is a facial? Does it count if you only use a local anesthetic?
I think if you are looking to improve your appearance, surgically or otherwise, you need to be realistic. A nose job will not change your life. Changing your appearance won’t make you a better person. It just makes you look better, after the swelling goes down.
And be careful, or you might wind up looking like the infamous Cat Lady, Jocelyn Wildenstein.
In case you were wondering, Sally Field is 61, Madonna and Jamie Lee are about to turn 50. I think all of them look great.
Jamie Lee Curtis is shown on 1/11/07, thanks to WENN. Sally Field is shown on 9/16/07 at the Primetime Emmy Awards and Maddona is shown on 2/6/08 at her Raising Kabbalah benefit with her daughter Lourdes on 2/6/08, thanks to PRPhotos.
I just think there are too many variables in plastic surgery to consider it plus I’ve never heard of anyone who only got one procedure. Most of them end up if not with something different done, touching up earlier work down the line.
But I think temporary injectables if done tactfully with a critical eye can be good. I think most women and half the men in Hollywood have done it whether they admit it or not.
You won’t comment on your multiple cosmetic procedures…will you also be keeping your opinion of anti-persprirant a “Secret”?
I agree, headache. I think it’s the touching up that causes the problems together with an inability to know when to leave well alone. Procedures to ‘freshen up’ someone’s look are fine, I guess, as long as they’re done by competent people. When it becomes a ’50’ wanting to look permanently like a ’30’, that’s when the fright masks happen. So many beautiful women have completely spoiled their looks with desperation surgery – eg. Jessica Lange, so beautiful and would have aged beautifully anyway. Shame.
And Jamie looks fab in that pic.
I think Madonna looks like a robot, and so does Nicole Kidman.
In my humble opinion, Jamie Lee looks a lot better than Madonna. True, she looks older — but no older than she “should.” Madonna’s face is starting to look stretched and “re-structured” — but then, it matches the rest of her incredibly sculpted body.
Of course, none of these women live particularly difficult or stressful lives. They have people to do their laundry, clean their toilets, mop their floors, cook their meals, organize their schedules, and do their shopping. They have home gyms so they can work out whenever they feel like it, and they spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on facials, massages, personal trainers, nutritionists, organic whole foods, and hair and make-up artists. Instead of slogging 9 to 5 day after day, with only two or three weeks’ vacation a year, they work two, maybe three months, and spend the rest of the year doing whatever they want.
So it’s all well and good to tell women it’s better to age naturally, but really, the best is to age naturally while living an extremely pampered life! I’m not saying these people don’t experience hardship or stress, but it’s on a very different level than your regular joe.
I love these women, although Madonna annoys me, I agree with her when she said she won’t let age define her. I turn 41 this year & am so damn proud. I look younger & feel younger but I thinks its because I won’t let a number tell me how to feel. I have two teenage sons, 14 & 16, which helps keep me young. I think that helps.
Tess, love your comment- so 80’s!
It is weird to think Jamie Lee and Madonna are the same age. JL seems so much more mature (in a good way). Madonna seems so superficial with her o.c.d. of working out and her trying to dress younger than she is.
They will be hitting menopause soon too! No one seemed to pick up on the hilarious Letterman comment to Demi M. about that (menopause).
sorry, I don’t “thinks”, I just think!!
I just don’t see what’s wrong with looking close to your age. There are so many beautiful women out there of different ages.
Diane Lane
Blythe Danner
Ellen Burstyn
Helen Mirren
Michelle Pfeiffer among others
I think what ages women most is an obsession with looking young. It makes you hard around the eyes and screws with your poise and grace. Not to mention personality.
ALERT: CB, don’t know if this is meant to be happening but the Bravissimo ad on the bottom right hand side of the home page is obscuring the ‘Recent Comments’ bit so you can’t read them. I’ve just checked on another computer and it’s the same. In UK. It’s only doing this on the home page, fine once you go into a story.
I almost forgot. Ruby Dee looked absolutely PHENOMENAL at the oscars this past season.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking there is any age that cannot be beautiful.
I think the comment that plastic surgery doesn’t make you feel better about yourself is wrong. I have had a breast reduction for medical reasons and really thought nothing of what it would do to me mentally. I can’t say enough about how my self-esteem has shot through the roof. It’s not a surgery I recommend unless you need it – I was in surgery for 4 hours and the recovery is LONG. But I couldn’t believe how such a thing could make me feel so much better about my appearance. I didn’t even realize I was obssessing so much about my large chest. I think if you have a body part you feel defines you negatively and you get it “fixed” then it will make you feel better about the appearance you present. But I do have a motto for those who overdo it – QUIT PUTTING CRAP IN YOUR FACE!
I’m 65. I have to say that I am not really thrilled when I look in the mirror, because the girl inside is still 19 and she’s just a little shocked to see herself aging. But that’s part of life, just as growing up and falling in love and having babies and having a career and whatever it is that you do with your life, all are part of life. But there is also a great comfort in growing older and letting yourself look like it. It’s like you don’t have to try as hard. I don’t mean you let yourself go. I still get up every morning and shower, shampoo, brush, put on (minimal) makeup, deodorant, attempt to style the hair (damn curls – but did I mention they are brown curls? as long as L’Oreal is around, I’ll be a brunette). But I don’t have to compete. Neat and tidy is all that’s required, I don’t have to continue trying for drop-dead gorgeous. It’s a relief. So is the fact that it’s more acceptable to be a sarcastic bitch – always have been, now it’s because I’m old. LOL. So yes, you lose the youthful glow, but you gain so much more, and a lived-in face is infinitely more interesting than a teeny-bopper’s. I think Jamie Lee and Sally look fantastic.
Fluffy-I had a breast reduction too, and I completely agree. I am SO much more confident now, and in a lot less pain! As you said, surgery is a big deal and people really need to take the recovery period seriously, as well as take seriously the risks (I had to have a follow-up surgery due to excess scar tissue…not fun).
I think it depends on the plastic surgery and the reason for it. Often there is that one thing that makes someone self-conscious, and addressing that can make a huge difference. And I have definitely known people who had only one procedure–they addressed the thing that bothered them, and then they were done.
I have no issue with that. However, I do wonder about people who persistently remake their faces.
Also, I think there’s a huge difference between surgery and coloring your hair. Although I can see the philosophical similarity, the degrees of invasiveness and permanence are so different that I don’t think they’re parallel at all. Wearing makeup may be a fraud, but it’s a fraud that washes off.
The only thing Sally Field needs to do is get rid of the underlying streaky red strands in here hair! Unfortunately, red heads don’t gray as gracefully seeming as blondes or brunettes.
Just want to go on record that plastic surgery for medical reasons is a whole other ballgame from all the molding and carving and whatever that so many in Hollywood do. Overly large breasts can cause many problems and you guys who had the reductions were right to do them, and I can imagine how much better you feel, both physically and emotionally.
Different thing when you have your cheeks pulled around on the back of your head just to try to look 50 when you are 60.
Dont know bout Madonnas surgeries…but she gotta introduce her kid to mr. wax so he can take care of that unibrow…that is all thank you
Firstly – Jamie does look fantastic!
And secondly – nevermind all that i just did a double-take when Syko said her age! Seriously? I honestly thought you were in your late 20s, maybe early 30s because your posts tend to be mature, with a youthful slant. Congratulate that 19 year old inside 😉
No kidding, Kevin, I think that every time I see that little girl. She’d be a pretty kid if she didn’t have Sherwood Forest above her eyes.
Thank you, Mairead – yep, I’ll be 66 this summer. But you never change inside, it’s just the body goes to hell. You’ll always be the same inside too, only a little more experienced and fearless.
Jamie Lee is looking good…I’d like to see her put some color on that hair thought cause damn on that salt and pepper shit.
Syko, I completely concur. Same to be said for corrective surgery such as one boob visually larger than the other or reconstructive surgery after a car accident or mastectomy.
I think most of us are speaking of plastic surgery exclusively as an attempt to stay “youthful.”
Nothing wrong with a little tune-up now and again if you can’t get it naturally.
Wow, I had no idea that Jamie Lee & Madge were the same age. I guess I thought JL was older, she just seems more mature, I guess.
I have to say that I agree with Granger. IMO aging naturaly is the way to go, but I’m sure its WAY easier when you aren’t in a rush to get the kids from school to soccer practice or Girl Scouts.
Jamie Lee looks fantastic! And I’m glad the 19 yr old stuck around Syko 😉
I think older ladies are hot and age lines are sexy. Why? Because they allow the character of the woman or man to shine through. Their whole long life is catalogued in those lines. And no I’m not an “old lady” just trying to make myself feel better; I’m 25!
I find my eye is more interested by women who look like Sally Field than by women her age who have obviously had procedures done. I just think to myself “what a tragedy” because they are so obviously trying to clutch hold of their youth to keep it from slipping away, which is something they can never stop.
LOL Tess.
Anyone who is interested in the subject of female beauty and cosmetic surgery in particular should read “The Beauty Myth” by Naomi Wolf. It’s guaranteed to make you look twice at everything from these surgeries to makeup to fashion advertising, etc.
I like Sally Fields comment, she’s basically saying she’s choosing acting over vanity which is why I lost any respect I had for Nicole Kidman.
Jane Fonda has a similar perspective to Jamies. Thing is – both have had surgery in the past and both are naturally really good looking women with a lot of resources at their disposal. I kind of think they don’t have the right then to tell the rest of us what to do. Its like: well I look good and have cheated in the past but you can’t. I think its up to the individual to make that call.