I’ve written before about how Ashley Judd rubs me the wrong way. We’ve just heard too many stories about how she’s a diva and how she treats people badly. Jason Patric, who worked with her on stage in 2003, even called her “a lazy and arrogant actress.” Well Ashley is back with a role on television in ABC’s “Missing.” She was looking a little puffy during her press duties last month and outlets pointed it out and wondered if she’d had too many fillers. Ashley’s rep responded with a statement that she was getting treatment for a sinus infection. That was in mid March and the press has long since moved on, so case closed. Not so fast. Ashley wants us to have a larger discussion about what this means for our society. At least, I think that’s what she means. You can read her essay here. It’s really long and I’m only excerpting part of it:
As an actor and woman who, at times, avails herself of the media, I am painfully aware of the conversation about women’s bodies, and it frequently migrates to my own body. I know this, even though my personal practice is to ignore what is written about me. I do not, for example, read interviews I do with news outlets. I hold that it is none of my business what people think of me. I arrived at this belief after first, when I began working as an actor 18 years ago, reading everything. I evolved into selecting only the “good” pieces to read. Over time, I matured into the understanding that good and bad are equally fanciful interpretations. I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself. I thus abstain from all media about myself. The only thing that matters is how I feel about myself, my personal integrity, and my relationship with my Creator. Of course, it’s wonderful to be held in esteem and fond regard by family, friends, and community, but a central part of my spiritual practice is letting go of otheration. And casting one’s lot with the public is dangerous and self-destructive, and I value myself too much to do that.
That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient. Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it. This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times—I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women.
A case in point is that this conversation was initially promulgated largely by women; a sad and disturbing fact. (That they are professional friends of mine, and know my character and values, is an additional betrayal.)News outlets with whom I do serious work, such as publishing op-eds about preventing HIV, empowering poor youth worldwide, and conflict mineral mining in Democratic Republic of Congo, all ran this “story” without checking with my office first for verification, or offering me the dignity of the opportunity to comment. It’s an indictment of them that they would even consider the content printable, and that they, too, without using time-honored journalistic standards, would perpetuate with un-edifying delight such blatantly gendered, ageist, and mean-spirited content.
[From The Daily Beast]
So she didn’t really deny getting anything done. Reading that made me confused, but I don’t see a denial in there anywhere. It’s all about how other people are at fault for pointing it out, and how the media is focusing on the wrong thing. When someone gets plastic surgery and it’s noticeable people are going to point it out. Plus there’s this thing called The Internet where a lot of people talk smack. Yes it can be annoying, but it exists and it’s human nature. It’s not some horrible conspiracy to keep people down.
I do believe her that she was taking steroids and that she gained a little weight, it’s basically what I wrote at the time. She already addressed this in a statement from her rep back when we were talking about it a month ago. What changed? Did it take her this long to whip out her thesaurus and condemn everyone? She actually talks like this, and it’s just as mind-boggling, if not more so, to her her speak. As she wrote at the beginning, she’s above all this anyway so why bother? Is it because she wants to point out how above it she is and how wrong we are? When it doesn’t personally affect her, does she even care?
In related news, Ashley’s show “Missing” is likely to be canceled.
Ashley is shown on 3-14 and 3-12-12. Credit: WENN.com
I can’t with her
“I can’t with her.” Oh, hilarious! She uses LATIN in there (“inter alia,” i.e., “among other things”). I have NEVER seen that used by anyone other than a judge or a lawyer in official court documents. She’s the worst, indeed.
Yep, I took a business writing class and a cardinal rule is to not use flowery, big words when a simpler one that everyone knows will do, it only shows the reader you’re only concerned with impressing and seeming more intelligent than them rather than getting your point across.
@Jordan – I’m with you. I didn’t take a business class, but learned that extremely quick in the real business world. Long and wordy essays will not get fully read, and come across as annoying. Brief target points create much more of an impact than a lecture. I didn’t read hers. I get her point, I’m sorry ..and I don’t even have anything to apologize for. lol.
Oy, me thinks the lady doth protest way too much! In her overwrought statement, all Ashley proves is that she probably got a higher score on the verbal section of the SAT than most of us.But her whining “waahhh…all dem patriarchal bitches are obsessed wit ma face!” makes her come off like another Samantha Brick. Ashley, bottom line, your face suddenly looked all puffed and pooked up. You’re in the public eye. People are going to notice when your face goes from looking like your own to that of a nut-stuffed chipmunk. Steroids? Oh, steroids, schmeroids, personally I don’t buy that in this case. She got her face shot up with too many fillers and it looks silly. Happens every day, about a million times a day in Hollywood.
Maybe storing her head up her own ass is what keeps Ashley swollen.
ah hahahaha, I’m going with this theory..
That’s hilarious!
GOOD ONE!!!
WORD. lol
And so that’s why her eyebrows are rising to her forehead, damn sinuses!
I tried to read that essay but all I kept hearing in my head was Charlie Brown’s teacher’s voice.
Seriously, who writes like that? She obviously wants to sound intelligent but geez does she come off as pretentious.
LOL! Wa wa wa.
Mine was a very pretentious voice saying, “Blah, blah, deblahdy blah, blah”
I actually remember a quote from back in the heydey of the Judds, when Assley, (no typo) said: “We all have our talents in this life, some are just more important than others”
Pretty sure she was referring to her own brilliant intellect.
amazing quote..just shows how talented Ashley is, she can bastardize Animal Farm while her head is up her ass..
LMAO!! Now that is stuck in my head… lol… wa wa wa wa wa wa!! LOL
Purposely using as many SAT words as possible doesn’t prove a point. Funny how this rant comes out now that she’s supposedly the target, when her sister struggled with weight issues for years.
Was this article lost on everyone? Jeez. You’re attacking her grammar and her weight gain. That is exactly the point she was trying to make. Hateful comments only feed her argument. FYI her language used is college level, not some upper echelon professor, so I found I understood it all, and hopefully there’s some educated folks out there who did too.
Yes, yes, a million times yes.
I know it’s ‘celebitchy’ here, but she has such a valid point and unfortunately an opportunity to discuss the very real problem that she is pointing out has turned into further discussion on whether she gained weight and had fillers and how pretentious she is to write like she’s penning an essay (which she is). Sigh. I love this site and the commentators but this seems like a missed opportunity for a good conversation to me and is further proving her point.
Eh I don’t know. I think she has a slightly valid point but loses people with her try- hard writing and speaking style. I have a law
Degree and I understand the words. They are just strung together strangely. Using sat level words doesnt mean you’re more eloquent, btw.
So many folks on here are quick to slam others grammatical errors but didn’t fully understand what she was saying? Wow. I understood it just fine..a little pretentious but nevertheless…she was spot on. Quite honestly I admire her writing skills and the fact she bothered to get an education. Is she a pretentious bitch…yes, but at least she is an educated one.
Spot on Keri.
Ashley Judd has a history of going out of her way to use language that makes her sound like she’s writing an academic paper and it definitely comes across as “look how smart I am”. You are supposed to consider your audience when writing, not only so they will understand but also so you don’t come off like an arrogant, overbearing blowhard. There are many people who can pull off constantly using higher level vocab words on a regular basis; the difference between them and Judd is that it sounds very natural coming from them whereas it sounds very deliberate and forced coming from Judd.
@keri:
Are you kidding? The overuse/misuse of 50 cent words is the hallmark of bad writing. (Please see my note about “inter alia” after the first comment, above). The only people who write this way are high school kids trying to impress their teachers, and the very insecure.
I understood her point. I just find it hypocritical to work the hot, young ingenue angle until it’s no longer in her favor. Where was all this righteous indignation during her sister’s battle with eating disorders? But now that she feels like criticism is directed at her, it warrants this long, pretentious essay? Please.
The article wasn’t lost on anyone, it’s just hard to swallow. It’s a thinly-veiled, long-winded personal essay about an insecure actress in response to people noticing she looked “puffy”. “Puffy”, okay? There are much worse things people have written about her that have nothing to do with her looks. Whatever valid point she was trying to make is lost in all that.
Would Ashley Judd be writing a similar article if the “ongoing disassembling of her appearance” in all the media coverage after this particular interview was a favorable one? If people were instead commenting and dissecting her beauty in a gushy and flattering manner? There was a time when the press heavily lauded Judd for her beauty — there were no protests on the insidious patriarchy from Judd back then.
@ Keri
No, the point wasn’t lost on me, but for me, she loses credibility when she makes a point to mention that she hasn’t had work done. Really?
“When my skin is nearly flawless, and at age 43, I do not yet have visible wrinkles that can be seen on television, I have had ‘work done,’ with media outlets bolstered by consulting with plastic surgeons I have never met who ‘conclude’ what procedures I have ‘clearly’ had.”
I’m sorry, your skin is NOT NEARLY FLAWLESS. It just looks like it’s been pulled and stretched so much it’s about to snap.
Thank you! Eloquence is something to be admired, not mocked. And those SAT words people are snidely commenting about are words that the average high school-aged child is supposed to know. It’s a little essay using pretty basic language, folks, not a doctoral thesis on Beowulf, so chill out and brain up.
Wow–a lot of hate on here for multisyllabic words, eh?
It’s an essay, guys. You want she should write something more along the lines of “GIRLZ POWER!!1!! Curves are sexxxy! Gotta luv each other like sistaz, lol!”?
Like her or not, I can’t believe she’s getting ragged on for writing articulately.
I blame twitter, somehow.
There’s nothing wrong with writing in an articulate and accessible manner. This Dawson’s Creek-sounding diatribe doesn’t fall into that category. There’s a reason newspapers have been written at a 4th-6th grade reading level long before Twitter.
I refuse to pick on someone for writing an op ed piece above a 4th grade level.
Let’s just pick on her dress.
I agree, sort of. One can write articulately without sounding like a snob. If she were a adiffent person, I think I wouldn’t care, but because she’s always seemed mega pretentious, this feels like more of the same. Every English teacher I’ve ever had has said to tighten up the writing, so let me do an executive summary: because of a patriarchal system that both men and women participate in, women are judged more by appearances than by their character. This happened to me on my recent press junket, and it hurt my feelings.
Exactly. Concise and direct. It all boils down to intent – do you want to share ideas or prove how superior you are? I guess it’s the former journalism student in me, but this essay comes off as “try hard” as any tacky, low-cut dress.
yup!
bingo.
Zelda,
She doesn’t just pull out the big words for essays, she talks like this. I remember hearing her in an interview close to twenty years ago and it seemed like she was trying really hard to put these words together. It’s like someone told her she wasn’t smart enough when she was a child and now she spends every interview trying to prove them wrong.
I often get the impression that she tries to outrun and outdistance herself from her childhood instead of making peace with it. I believe she has tried to do this but I am not sure if she has gotten there yet. It is as if she defines herself in opposition to everything and everyone coming out of her childhood. That’s s reactive state. That’s not peace.
I don’t think people are criticizing her for writing articulately, but because she went overboard and comes across as very pretentious and trying to hard to impress with her intellect.
There is a middle ground between GIRLZ POWER! and sounding like you wrote a piece, then used the thesaurus to swap out every other word.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah..I actually understood this with no problem, but she does phrase things awkwardly. It comes across a bit pretentious but I like her message.
@Zelda:
Are you kidding? The overuse/misuse of 50 cent words is the hallmark of bad writing. (Please see my note about “inter alia” after the first comment, above). The only people who write this way are high school kids trying to impress their teachers, and the very insecure.
Thank you!! To those who say things like, “Who writes like that?” I’ll answer: I do. I do; several of my friends do; and the members of my family do as well.
There was nothing inaccessible about what she wrote. She’s always been a bit wordier than the average bear, and I find her pretentious from time to time, but the fact that a majority of her countrymen are not only happy with their own ignorance but also disdainful of those who actually took the trouble of mastering their mother tongue is not Ashley Judd’s problem. It’s theirs.
I happen to agree with every word she wrote. She has an absolutely solid point.
Having said all that and absolutely meaning it, I will also point out that I once heard her use the word “milieu” inappropriately and just out of the blue. My first thought was, “Oh, Honey, no. Just, no.” So…I get where the criticism comes from, but I honestly don’t think she speaks and writes this way to be pretentious. For some people (myself included), we speak this way and write this way naturally because it’s how were raised and taught to speak and write. She’s pretentious because she’s a famous and entitled, but the way she writes and speaks above the lowest common denominator is not necessarily an affected snobbery.
See, this is the problem with this world these days. People see or hear words, but don’t comprehend the point of the sentences that are strung together. So, instead of asking for an explanation, let’s all make fun of the messenger.
Ashley Judd made an incredible argument against our patriarchal society and some dumbasses want to point at laugh at her for using Latin. If you can Google inter alia, copypaste patriarchy and check it out. You may end up scratching your head and saying “Holy shit, she’s absolutely right! I’m part of the problem!”
I saw her on Anderson. She definitely had gained weight. I was shocked. She has always been smaller. But she wasn’t fat. ‘a rounder face definitely gets bigger with weight gain.
She is very intelligent, but I have always been turned off by the way she communicates. She has always sounded like this I’n every interview. I don’t know how her husband takes it. Maybe being French he doesn’t notice it. Another convoluted op-ed. She gets lost in trying to
sound so intellectual. A true intellectual knows how to convey their point without being so wordy and pretentious.
Hear, hear, Jana. Aptly put. I couldn’t agree more.
@Jayna: Um, her husband is Scottish, not French.
I started reading…& then I realized I didn’t care!
With all the other stories floating around about her self-absorbed crazy, this is what she wastes her pseudo-intellectual vocabulary on?
Here, I’ll save you all the trouble of reading through this self-aggrandizing tripe and condense it in one line:
I, I, I, patriarchy, I, I, I, misogynistic, I, I, I, self-esteem, I, I, I, women are mean, I, I, I, patriarchy, I, I, I, me, myself, and I.
Another hysterical post!!! Good One!!
That’s it! As the old saying goes, “it’s the medium, not the message”. Whatever miniscule point she is trying to make is lost in the verbal sauce. And I truly doubt she is free of the same type of vanity-didn’t she say “my flawless skin”?
*Marshall McLuhan was responsible for the quote,”the medium is the message”.
What a load of pompous, condescending bafflegab. Oh, and her new show stinks. Or should I say it’s odiferous? Noisome? I tried to watch one episode and it’s so badly written and acted it’s painful and I had to change the channel.
This gets my vote for best comment.
Ha. Yes
How about risible?
I seemed to remember that she used to be a fairly decent actress. Double Jeopardy and Kiss the Girls come to mind. But I couldn’t get past ten minutes with her new show.
Re: her essay. She makes some very good points but as others have pointed out, they are lost among unnecessary verbiage.
while i agree with her points, she comes off like a 2nd year university student.
i think someone is harboring shame of their hillbilly background and is overcompensating.
There is not a dam thing to be ashamed about for being a hillbilly….I am proud of it…and Ashley is not a hillbilly !! and neither really is her mommy or sister…now her real father family was kinda…they just made a living singing country music….
She just comes off pretentious because she is pretendous….Hell sweetie I got several nice big Letters after my name when I want to use them but that doesn’t mean I have to talk like the man on the six o clock news…or write like I am copying from the dicitionary….
YOU just proved yourself to be as ignorant and insufferable as all of your implications about Judd.
Impossible. Anyone irritated with AJ has my full support.
What do you expect she is a Judd……..
Give her ten more years and she will be as plastic as momma Judd and as fake….
I am with the writer of this one.
So, she has gained weight , had work done, and is unhappy that people have noticed. Ashley, hon, people always notice.
Still, I do have a drop of empathy for her. It must have been tough to do the promos for her new show when she knew she was looking so bad.
You summed it up well. She looks terrible and it’s got to be tough to be seen in that condition, especially knowing she looked better without all funkyface stuff. Extra weight and fillers and whatever else she’s had done are a bad mix for anyone.
Bitch please…yo face is puffy! According to her own “definition,” um, as she put it Patriarchy “privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women.”
You could actually use the same sentence to describe plastic surgery!
And she misused the legal term “inter alia” in that context.
oh, thank goodness someone else noticed! pls see my note after the first comment, above.
Usually I would go along with all this but I guess I haven’t known about her being a snot. I always loved her in movies and thought she was as cute as a button! She is a great actress, at least I think, I have loved most of her roles she has played in the past. –Simon Birch, Double Jeopardy, Kiss the Girls, High Crimes,—except for Tooth Fairy-that was a total step down for all involved in that one. Maybe I always wanted her to be as sweet of a person as she is in her movies–or comes across as. Either way–I’m going to stay ignorant for a little while longer.
This is why I left grad school. EVERYONE talks like this, and it’s always the same bogeymen to blame. Patriarchy shmatriarchy. How about you chose a career linked to your looks, and now you look very different all of a sudden, and you’re annoyed that we noticed.
very good.
Preach!
THANK YOU.
Well, see, now you have a terrific point there. I went all ape**** defending her up on someone else’s post, and now I see this, and I have to nod in agreement.
I still think she has a point. I still think she’s telling the truth because I blew up JUST like she has (arms, face, and legs) when I was on steroids.
But…you’ve got a point, too.
That’s why you left grad school? You must be intensely sensitive to give up an advanced degree based on what others were saying. That’s pretty sad.
Well, she makes a very good point. Maybe some on here don’t want to acknowledge that since they’re too busy knocking other women’s looks?
Seriously. I never liked Ashley Judd but I had to admit she made a few good points. It’s weird how people are focussing on her overly academic tone and insisting that she had work done while failing to address the heart of it, which is the flak and media attention 40 something actresses get when they don’t look like Amber Heard.
A lot of celebrities sound like holier than thou, pedantic douchebags- it’s really nothing new. Sean Penn, Brange, Clooney, Sharon Stone. Maybe that’s why Judd’s tone doesn’t faze me.
The point is that women are still largely judged by their looks, no matter what they have accomplished. And that is patriarchy. And women are participating, just as Ashley said and this thread proves.
I’ve read loads of stories about her being a psycho hose beast diva, but it doesn’t refute the points she makes in her essay. Yeah it smacks of narcissism, pedantry, and self aggrandizement, but the scrutiny and media attention her puffy face received was hella stupid. She’s still better looking than 99.99999999% of the 40 somethings I know. Her looks might be a big part of her career, but it’s dumb to give her grief for not looking the way she did in her 20’s.
The way people take female actresses to task for the looks, especially ones in their 40’s, is misogynistic. Plain and simple.
I also thought her explanation of the pervasive impact of patriarchy was intelligent and relevant. But of course people are going to denigrate her for it — calling her a “hillbilly” and “bitch” to quote several commenters — thus proving her point.
I agree with your comment, but don’t you think she plays a large part in promoting precisely what she condemns? It’s undeniable that she’s had plastic surgery. She can swear up and down that it’s bad to cast judgment on women’s looks, but doesn’t that kind of make her a hypocrite?
I just saw an old episode of Friends where Joey wanted to sound smart when he was writing a letter of recommendation to Chandler and Monica’s adoption agency. Ross taught him how to use the thesaurus on the computer and he used it on every word and it ended up making no sense at all.
Someone needs to take Ashley’s computer away.
Baby Kangaroo Tribbianni! Bahahahahahahaha!!!
I saw that ep not too long ago, and it was most definitely hysterical!
I dislike her personality but I have to agree with her essay even though it is pretentious and I skimmed it for the most part. A lot of this analysis of female celebrities and their physical appearance is misogynistic. She gained weight. So what? She is not obese. She is in her 40s. A middle aged woman will no longer look the same as she did when she was 30. I look very different from just five years ago. I know people who can look completely different in a year due to marriage, health problems, inactivity, unemployment, and change in employment, etc. I believe she has had some medical issues and that it has contributed to her bloat and weight gain.Can we just allow women to age without making them feel like crap for gaining weight and aging?
Exactly…We rag on women for looking older, then we rag on women for getting plastic surgery to try and look younger…can’t win!
Her essay reminds me of that Friends episode where Joey had to write a recommendation letter for Chandler and Monica to finalise their adoption, and he used a thesaurus for every word. He signed his name as ‘Baby Kangaroo’ Tribbiani. Lol. 😀
When I avail myself of the Gossip Bucket I am a victim of cultural hegemony!
LOL! 😀
Nice attempt at deflection with that patriarchy nonsense, but we’re still laughing at your jacked-up mug. Let me guess, the evil patriarchy forced you to get bad work done, amirite? My god, she is insufferable and obviously mentally ill. Please, GO AWAY!
Oh and this is what I see when I look at her…
http://sciencelost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ugly-fish.jpg
I actually saw Ashley yesterday deliver a speech at a luncheon. She basically said a lot of what was in this op-Ed and she does speak exactly as she writes. She shared some horrifying statistics about what is happening to women of all ages around the world. It is truly heartbreaking. If all you can do is criticize her looks, speech and writing, you are truly missing the point as well as an opportunity to look for ways to make a difference in the world. And, for what it’s worth, she looked absolutely lovely.
She may have a valid point, but it’s completely undercut by the fact that it’s coming from a woman who voluntarily puts her face on our TV screens every week. Hey, Ashley, you know what “privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women?” Hollywood! A system in which you voluntarily participate!
So actors regularly seen on TV deserve to be fat shamed, just because they chose the acting profession? Judd isn’t playing a model or a beauty queen- she’s playing a mom in her 40’s. Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, and Tina Fey are also “contributing to the Hollywood machine”, but if anyone ever gave them flak for “letting themselves go”, they’d have every right to be pissed.
Judd may be a Hollywood actress, but she’s obviously not happy with the way it works and is trying to change things. One piddly essay isn’t going to move mountains, but it’s a start.
It’s funny you say that, because those women are actually likable. They may hold the same opinions that Ashley does, but they aren’t smug and condescending about it. I don’t know why, but Ashley is just off-putting and terrible! I’ve never understood her appeal, she’s never EVER been pretty and her atrocious personality is the icing on the big old smelly turd cake.
I chose likeable actresses in her age range deliberately. It would be hypocritical to give Sarah Silverman a pass for gaining weight but then come down on Ashley Judd for personal and subjective reasons.
You also picked women who haven’t built their careers on being a lead dramatic actress like Ashley has. That specific career track invites hypercriticism. It’s not a new develop. The fact is, she didn’t pen this essay until the criticism was directed at her. Of course she doesn’t deserve to be fat-shamed, but she only cried foul after it was at her expense. She’s only rallying to subvert the system after the system turned on her.
I don’t see how being a comedic actress or lead actress is relevant, If you’re in the entertainment industry, your looks will be scrutinized, period. It stinks, and all she’s saying is that maybe things should be different. People are allowed to have a change of heart.
Yeah Judd got where she is because she was a knock out in her twenties, but it doesn’t negate the point she’s making. That the public should ease their expectations as to how actresses in their 40’s should look.
I like the fact she actually speaks as though she has read a book or two but then completely overextends the definition of patriarchy and goes on to blame other women. While I know the media focuses on looks the rest of us only do so when you make that the focus of discussion. If she’s as intelligent as she purports to be why not write an essay on something else? Why not discuss anything else? Sure a few people might still comment on the change in her looks but most of us would have focused on what she was actually saying. Instead she goes on to make some pompous statement about how the man is keeping her down.
Yes she made a few good points, but…why now?
Because she’s lost her looks! She was perfectly fine with being a part of Hollywood and it’s looks-obsessed culture when she was pretty, but now that she’s not we get to listen to this pseudo-intellectual tripe. Yay. I guess we were all supposed to pretend that she looks completely normal? *rolls eyes*
Ha, good point.
Looks like someone got a thesaurus for Christmas.
Don’t be so snide about her use of words, because once you reach a certain level of education, you talk and write like this not because you want to sound pretentious, but because it’s the most natural way for you to talk and write. Asking her to avoid using words like “salient” and “inter alia” would be as unnatural to her as it would be to you if I asked you to avoid using words like “excerpt” and “condemn”.
On the other hand, her argument was a little ridiculous. I thought it had a similar vibe to that of “The Emperor’s Clothes”, in which she condemns anyone who disagrees with her as being part of the problem.
That and her acting really sucks.
eh, i know some very intelligent people, some with advanced degrees from the ivies, and they don’t speak like this unless they’re working. people who speak like judd in regular conversation are try-hards.
Err, no you don’t. You write like that for academic journals, you use less jargon when talking to an educated ley person about your field of expertise, and when talking to the general public you keep it simple. This is what has been encouraged at every academic institution I’ve ever worked at.
I do find the entire article pretentious but honestly, that’s not what annoys me about this.
If you are a celebrity, and you don’t have a problem using your body as a way to achieve fame, then you can’t be upset when people critique that same body when it changes. Just my opinion.
She has posed in her underwear, lingerie, etc. for magazines in the past when she was tiny and didn’t have any problem with people discussing her body then. You can’t have it both ways, honey.
If I gain weight, and someone makes a comment, then yes, I will probably be upset about it. But I’ve also never willingly offered my body up as a topic of conversation in the past.
I’m not going to criticize her for gaining weight, etc. I’m criticizing her for being a hypocrite (along with most of Hollyweird.) Can’t expect people to only discuss your body when it looks good.
I disagree. I’d feel the same way if she was Jenna Jameson or Paris Hilton- it’s silly to get up in some model or actress’s grill for not looking as good at 45 as she did when she was 20. How come male actors aren’t subjected to the same scrutiny?
You don’t screw with mother nature !!
If you do you pay the price…that price is that it will alter your face. and you will not look the same as you did before …oh you may have less wrinkles, your eyebrows lifted lips plumped up but……it is not what was natural and therefore will show on your face…..so having said that you live your life in front of a camera that camera knows every line, wrinkle and blemish on your face so does the public and the minute you change something the camera and the public will notice and say something.thats the price of fame..so calling out against it is redicluious…now I can do what Ashley did and write this little tidbit of mine in those ten dollars words that she likes to use but it would made it any better then just writing it in normal everyday language no I don’t think so…thats what is wrong with people who think they a more intelligent then others they become so enambered with their own perceived intelligent they bore the hell out of everybody else with their pretentiousness.
LOL……..and that my friends is the longest “run on sentence” in todays post…..no periods…no Capitals and no commas….just pure pretendiousness !
The funniest thing about it was it made better sence then Ashley’s .
You forgot all the spelling errors. 😉
Jeez is Ashley wrote an essay on being criticized for her current look, Nicole Kidman should write a book:)
As usual, many of her word choices are a stretch. If your going to attach the phenom of modern obsession with youth to “patriarchy” I think you need to back up your theory. And as for the word “Otherism”, its more of a six dollar bit of slang than an actual word. And it doesn’t apply where she used it.
Urban Dictionary:
The box that is checked when you do not belong to a major Religion, i.e.; Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Christian or Nudism
Probably the fastest growing new Religion.
And at the end of the day, this ridiculous woman just does not get that she sounds like an ass when she does this. A little more Hemingway Sista. Less is more.
Hemingway popped into my head, too. I don’t really have anything else to say.
I kind of get her point, everyone is more harsh on women and criticism of their physical appearance.
But at the same time, she went on a publicity tour for her new TV show, and looked noticeably different than before. Her face IS puffier than it was not so long ago. People ARE going to talk about it – unfortunately that’s one of the drawbacks to an otherwise very lucrative and nice career.
She was on a roll with her vocab words but she left out “hegemony”, which is something to do with imperial dominance. I had to look that one up the other day. she also should have thrown in a Latin phrase and referenced Pliny the Elder.
Pompous ass.
Translation: “Yeah, people think I’m using fillers but actually, I’m just gaining a little weight. I’m getting older and changing like every woman does and sadly, it’s mostly women who are attacking me. Many people respect me for my work and I am more important than my image so frankly, I don’t care what you say”.
Right?
I read it all last night, found it self-righteous and sanctimonious. But I tend to a agree that first world culture focuses too intently on how females should look, and tends to generally ingnore inner worth.
See, she could have just written what I just wrote and saved her fingers a lot of typing.
i’ve never understood her appeal.
and i get sinus infections like twice a year and i already have chubby cheeks, yet my face has never puffed up as much as hers. i call shenanigans.
Ashley is one of those people who are always desperately trying to be the center of attention by showing everyone how smart and cultured they are. Much like Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway.
This is pure insecurity and narcissism. While some people need to be constantly reminded of how good looking or awesome they are to feel worthy of attention, others are exactly the same way with intellect. Especially when we’re talking about people who went to elite schools (some actually believe they’re Einstein or some sort of genius just for the plain fact of studying on these places).
About the essay itself, I think that, though the point she makes is valid (I agree with her to some extent), the way she worded it makes her look like as a pompous and pretentious asshole.
You can easily read way more meaningful essays on feminists sites with much more accessible language. You don’t have to use big words to be intelligent or to make your opinion known.
What she should of said is simply, “The media is obsessed with thew way people age. Most women that are photographed often,usually reach a point in life where they want a little tweeking. If it makes you feel better, then it should be done and not made the topic of every discussion thereafter.”
The way she speaks makes her look like she is calling everyone a bunch of morons.
Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.
Yes. It must be a bitch to age and thicken with the whole world watching but she’s smart enough to know how it works by now.
She is STILL on that? Whatever.
Wow! She must be constipated with her head that far up her own a*se.
This is all part of a conspiracy led by Ashley Judd and Samantha Brick to shame all of us for trying to tear them down because we hate them because they’re beautiful. They are brilliantly attempting to subvert the status quo by substituting their sly brand of global hegemony, a matriarchy if you will. (Cue Jason Bateman: “Sure. I will.”) It is within this diabolical paradigm that they hope to educate us concerning the massive injuries we have inflicted upon their self-esteems solely on the basis of their superior beauty, a beauty which is matched only by the superiority of their studied, measured and earnest prose. I hear the Nobel Prize committee has not only taken notice, but will soon announce the end of the Nobel Prize program, because no one in the world could ever, after this, come close to matching the sheer brilliance (literal and figurative) of these two womyn.
I am really disappointed in the level of anti-intellectualism in these comments.
No, most of the commenters have been fine with actual, bona fide intellectualism. What everyone’s having a problem with is the pseudo-intellectualism on display here, the pretentiousness, the puffery. If Ashley Judd were truly an intellectual, that would come across without her sounding like a try-hard.
I’d be more concerned about the message she’s conveying than the fact that she’s using an academic tone. Sure her article isn’t the best journalism out there, but it’s not like she’s defending the KKK or telling us it’s okay to eat babies.
I completely agree with you, Jen.
Honey, most people don’t care why your face is puffy or your body. Get over yourself.
If they didn’t care (and it’s absurd that anyone does), it would not have been discussed all over the internet. It’s silly that people do care, but they do. Not because it’s her, but because it’s something to gossip about. Nonetheless it is about her, and she has the right to respond. Good for her.
No matter how much pretentious vocabulary Ashley uses, the bottom line is that she used to be (in my opinion) a very beautiful woman – and now her face is jacked beyond recognition. She has obviously done something to it because she looks awful.
I liked it.
She’s wrong if she thinks it is only the women who get criticized for their appearance. We roast the men just as much. Ask that Russell guy, can’t remember his last name. (The Big Fat Robinhood) We rag on him every time he gets fat and runs around looking like a big slob. Also Gerard Butler, his weight goes up and down and we cackle over it too. I can list man after man who lets himself go and we notice every single time. That’s the price of fame babe.
And it isn’t just the older women who get criticized either. The young ones get roasted every time they gain a pound too. Look at all the attention paid to the state of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s pear butt. How about Jessica Simpson’s mom jeans? Not to mention the criticism she’s getting for being too fat while pregnant. No one is exempt and I don’t think patriarchy is to blame.
We just like to criticize. Put yourself out there and we’ll rake you over the coals. Man. Woman. Child, no one is safe from our disserning eye.
She uses big words to impress people with her intelligence but really what it does is prove her to be pretentious.
I couldn’t read the whole thing without having to whip out my dictionary.
That says more about you than it does about her….
oooohhhh, snap!
Not really. Many of the words this woman uses she uses incorrectly. I think sticking up for her means YOU didn’t really understand what she wrote or why she wrote it. Maybe YOU are unduly impressed with pompous overblown verbiage that would be scoffed at by the average language professor.
Go Bad Fairy!
So many actresses and celebrities in general forego education to be famous while barely in their 20’s. So Ashley went to college and graduated–maybe she wants us to remember she is more articulate than the average actress.
And yes that dress is horrible and I am not objectifying her when I say that…
Lots of celebrities are very educated. Jodie Foster, for example. David Duchovny. Geena Davis. Do they try to beat us into submission with their words? No. She’s trying way too hard and, let’s be clear here, her writing is not all that. It’s only “college-bound-senior-in-high-school” good. If this is what our definition of “intellectual” has become, then G-d help us all.
If this is how she reacts to being called “puffy” – not even fat, or ugly, just “puffy” and perhaps “overworked” – I shudder to think how she’d react to a real insult.
I agree with her, and I find her way to of speaking to be educated and articulate. No issue with it at all.
Funny how people get their hackles up when people are educated and speak in a way that shows it. She did nothing wrong.
Pick on her for getting surgery. Pick on her for gaining weight. Pick on her for her message. Pick on her for daring to speak like an educated woman. Pick on her for the words she chooses to use. Pick on her for the likely incorrect perception that she is uppity or condescending because she speaks eloquently and dares to use words above a tenth grade level. Damn…she can’t do anything right, huh?
(the password is: “bully” )
Plus one to this.
If you find that to be educated and articulate than an English 101 is in order for you. Less is more. Someone has undoubtedly said that to this woman, and yet she still thinks talking like a thesaurus will make us all listen more intently. I dare you to ask half a dozen English professors what they think about this sad speech. I would bet my last tenner they would be less than impressed.
Yes.
I didn’t find her discourse arrogant or inappropriate. Yes, it did contain one word I felt I needed to look up. But she was basically right and these comments here support what she’s saying: that society has become too inconsiderate, judgemental and critical of one another and particularly celebrities. I say: live and let live. Although I’m not a fan of plastic surgery including botox, I think it makes (usually) previously beautiful people who are begining to show some natural aging look like freaks and indicates how emotionally unbalanced a person is to deliberately mutilate their faces with a truly false belief that it makes them look better when nothing could be further from truth. But I don’t think its right to beat them up about it. Again, I say live and let live. I feel eventually society will move beyond the belief that a surgerically mangled face in better than a gracefully aged one. I for one like to see former beauties naturally age. Its lets us know what to expect as we age. But when they distort their beautiful faces with surgical techniques I can no longer use them as a gauge of beauty, particularly since I don’t like the outcome and would never go that route myself. That being said I still don’t feel mean spirited criticism makes it any better. If you’re gonna comment can you do it in a nice and respectful manner?
Agree with her on the issues…but her new show is just bad! Only good part worth watching is Sean Bean (cause its Sean Bean!)…and he’s only on in flashbacks or some weird running sequence!
I think she makes very good points and I agree with her, and understand what she is talking about. I suspect it only seems pretentious to women/people who arent as strong and confident (or deep) as what is embodied in the essay.
That being said, I still had to skim sometimes because of the heavy tone and graveness of the piece… but, again, I wouldnt be so stupid as to do exactly what she is talking about in the essay- namely criticise her.
‘When it doesn’t personally affect her, does she even care?’
ashley judd admitted in her essay that it does affect her, that she can’t say it doesn’t.
you don’t read what she writes or listen to what she says, you judge her because she’s an educated, well read woman with a wide vocabulary. are you threatened by that? i don’t understand why people wouldn’t like her.
If you do read the whole thing, her main point is that her weight gain should never be an issue for people to mock, comment upon, or stipulate about. It’s her own private matter, just like my weight and health is my own. Patriarchy has forced us to look at women’s bodies under a microscope, and makes us feel like it’s ok to discuss and pick at other people’s bodys. And particularly, that it’s not right of women to do that to each other. This is the main point. It’s not surprising, considering the excessive body snark comments I read here, that so many people would rather take shots at how she’s supposedly arrogant, snotty, vain, trying to sound to smart, etc. You completely miss that she’s making a point about how screwed up our society is. And if you can’t see that it is screwed up, then you’re either not looking hard enough or ignoring it. Either way, patriarchy wins.
Thank you for writing this. I am very disturbed by the plethora of nasty comments on this site directed towards Ashley Judd and her article. People aren’t just disagreeing with her points, they are straight up getting nasty and judgmental about her appearance and intelligence (or lack thereof, according to many). Proving Ashley’s point…
Just because we’ve chosen to comment on her writing style does not mean that we didn’t get the point, or even that we disagree with what she’s saying. It means that many people didn’t like the way she said it. It’s nothing to do with education level (or at least not for my part), but to do with feeling patronised and lectured to by someone who has profited greatly from the system she criticises. Does that mean I think she’s wrong? No, but I am free to comment on the things I don’t like about her article.
Sinus infection my ass! She’s gained some weight and she’s toxin’.
Whatever.
She looks puffy. She’s offended people noticed. She wrote a long piece on it. I don’t really care to bash this.
It’s all relative.
She didn’t commit a hit and run with her slightly pompous piece. She’s obviously not a junkie. She actually might score well on the SAT’s if ever forced to take them.. I even agree that patriarchy is something women are complicit in.
This is mildly annoying at worst, like that girl in font of you at uni who wears non-precription glasses in a thick frame…. Like, really, whatever.
In other words she’s pissed that people are talking about her puffy face and bad haircut. I had wondered how she ever got a job on a network TV show, until I noticed the credits and saw she was one of the many co-producers on the show. Her show is unbelievable and predictable, with or without her puffy face.
What’s with all these people that go into show business and then have a fit when people notice them? She can’t be in our faces every Thursday night and then tell us to mind our own business. Not a great way to get viewers for her show, or for that matter, keep the ones she might already have. I suspect her show ratings will take a dive this week. Maybe she already got the cancellation notice and is venting.
All that fancy grammar doesn’t hide the fact that she describes herself as a classic narcissist. If she wasn’t so self absorbed she could just be honest about her weight gain so people could relate and be willing to accept her as is. Instead she hides behind the most complex words she can find.
Here’s the thing: “They” (the press, the fans, whomever) WANT a strong reaction from the people they’re criticizing, whether positive or negative. You know what would’ve made it all blown over? A. No response. or B. “Eh, comes with the territory.”
Nothing more irritating to a bully than being ignored.
I thought what she had to say was interesting, importnant and well-written. Incidentally, my favorite part of her essay appeared at the end and was not quoted above, but bears repeating over and over…
“The insanity has to stop, because as focused on me as it appears to have been, it is about all girls and women. In fact, it’s about boys and men, too, who are equally objectified and ridiculed, according to heteronormative definitions of masculinity that deny the full and dynamic range of their personhood. It affects each and every one of us, in multiple and nefarious ways: our self-image, how we show up in our relationships and at work, our sense of our worth, value, and potential as human beings.”
I have eyes . I see things (despite my high dipotry). I notice what the world around me looks like. That includes people. Pretty, cute, puffy, thin, tall, plump, curly, fit, muscular… whatever.
If I see a person, male or female, I can’t help but notice their physical appearance. I might pretend I don’t, but why the hell should I.
Some people look almost the same throughout the years and sometimes they start looking very different. Some people’s looks change for the better and some for the worst. It’s just life and it’s just me noticing (not just on women, but on men too).
She never wrote this kind of article when people were lauding her looks and calling her beautiful. It was okay to obsess over her face and body when people were complimenting her. It’s only bad now that the praises have stopped.
I’m not a fan, but she uses those big words correctly and she speaks the truth. Naomi Judd for a mom, she’s supposedly battled depression, and aging in Hollywood is a bitch. I’ll cut her some slack for being a little pretentious.
Steroids suck. They can make you look like a blowfish. However, her neck would likely be puffy as well. It’s clearly not.
She uses the words to feed her own self-inflated ego. She could have said the same thing simply, rather than being obtuse in order to impress. I’m NOT impressed.
I thought the whole point of Celebitchy was to be a bit snarky about celebrities. Some of you need to chill out and get a sense of humour.
She may have valid points, I don’t know b/c I didn’t read it all. It didn’t hold my attention nor did it seem interesting. Something which, I think, is more important for a writer trying to make a point than using fancy words and phrases. As a woman, I would prefer someone other than Ashley Judd rep female Hollywood. Someone smart and personable like Tina Fey rather than someone who talks down to others so that they just tune her out.
I used to like AJ, but she’s gotten on my nerves progressively over the years.
I did like her in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, despite her decidedly unlikable character (which I think she played well).
Blind Gossip think she’s so puffy because of fertility drugs. No idea if it’s true.
I think what people don’t acknowledge is, yes, men get dissed for their looks, too, but it doesn’t reach the levels of frenzy women are subjected to. And, yes, it IS ugly, and yes, I wish women on this site, and elsewhere would stop participating. Women and men alike apply much, much, MUCH lower standards for the physical appearance of men, and girls, every single one of you who says nasty things about Judd’s appearance, don’t you know you are subjected to the same kind of nastiness when it comes to your looks?
I am in total agreement with Ms. Judd. I read some of these comments. Women will never ever reach equal footing with men because we do not support each other. We are too busy trying to pull each other down instead of raising each other up. We are snarky and downright mean. Until we embrace each other we will always be subject to second class citizenship and be viewed as depreciating assets.
I agree with Ms. Judd as well, and I am disappointed by my fellow women on here. I’m also an English professor and thought the essay was well-written. Suddenly, all of you are all interested in style and syntax? Come on.
If you think this over-blown garbage was well written than I would HATE to take one of your classes. How sad that an education does not allow you to see through such a patently transparent grab at relevancy. On top of her stretch of an argument to blame the “patriarchy” (older men and younger women are an animal instinct going back thousands of years) we weren’t even TALKING about her anymore. It was over. Much more telling.
Hemingway Professor. Less is more. Unless you want to invoke Lovecraft. Now there was a wordy writer for ya. Cthulhu. Wordy. Educated. Yeah.
Hemingway was an asshole, and a misogynist. There is more than one interesting and engaging style of prose; that Ms. Judd does not employ the style you prefer does not mitigate her argument. If that were the case we’d have to toss Milton, Chaucer, Faulkner (indeed many of the Southern Gothics) and many, many more.
But we’re still not arguing the argument. We’re still so tailspun over a highly attractive, successful, educated woman pointing out something unflattering and in need of change that we’re not even discussing the issue!
Objectification hurts. It hurts all of us. No one owes the wolrd “pretty” even if the person at issue is in the public eye or works in entertainment. Why does Ashley’s beauty (some would say “former beauty”) require her to maintain a certain appearance? And more to the point why does the same standard NOT apply to the legions of actors whose appearances do not conform with society’s standards? Moreover why must a woman be fit (thin), with youthful features and dressed to please to be attractive, while men can just be funny, or dark, or intelligent?
It’s a valid question and I am thrilled she raised it.
I’m not sure how his personality changes the way we view his structure. Caravaggio was a psycho and murderer, but dude had enviable technique.
I…barely care about this article, but it touts a lot of the evils of patriarchy whilst trying to counter them. It’s the different side of the coin, to me but the extra bit of cleverness in is the fact that the author insulates herself from debate by effectively saying that unless all women get fitted with a ‘You said it, girlfriend’ chip to be inserted into the brain, they are guilty of selling out the sisterhood, consciously, or not. If you don’t give people a choice, you’re kind of taking away his voice and positing all kinds of disordered thinking and malice upon that gaping foe. That’s a bit facile, to me, that kind of, ‘either you worship me or you make war on me’ stance can be tedious. It’s such an easy way to trap and distract people from the actual issue.
In the case of the people who take issue to her writing style, I just don’t see the sexism there. I don’t think anyone here is saying that women are supposed to be dumb and never challenge anything. I think this partly because they have explicitly so. I think they’re voicing preference for a style that is more judicious and economical instead of what they see presented in the delivery of her message. It’s florid–I guess everyone has a different floridty threshold. And lest you think that professional writers and academics don’t get the same kind of mockery, they do. Tongue in cheek ‘awards’ are given out annually to what is effectively decided to be the most bullshit sentence published in peer-reviewed journals. Judith Butler almost always wins and Homi Bhabha is frequently in the top five. So, I guess that even for people who bloviate professionally, there comes a ‘dude, just…just calm it’ moment.
If I can be a supremely pedantic snot, Northrop Frye (I’m sorry, guys) said that if you can’t explain the water cycle in terms that a five-year-old could understand, you might not be the authority that you imagine yourself to be. Something to think about from the man who almost single-handedly brought William Blake back into the conversation. Now, do I believe that an extremely well-known and well-regarded intellectual and professor is (was) telling us to speak in half-sentences and throw in a few references to ‘pas-ghetti’? No, I don’t. To my mind, his point was that if you can edify and convince in a focused and clear, concise manner–if you do all of this in a memorable way, you don’t to strive to impress your audience: that’s already been done for you. Thinking of your audience doesn’t mean that you think it’s dumb, it’s just shifting your style to something appropriate based on context. A dissertation is never re-published as a book for a more general audience without some mitigation that came before.
She’s a female douche bag but just so she is not to be offended, I came to this conclusion based on her personality, not her looks.
Judd’s no Nabokov…
I totally support her outrage at misogynistic practices in the media. At the same time, ‘i have flawless skin with few visible wrinkles’ kinda reeks of, I don’t know, playing into the misogynistic practices that you are advocating against? If you got your face done, own it! That’s feminism in practice. But yeah, f**k the patriarchy!!
I totally agree with what she wrote. We just have to look at the bitchy comments written about Jennifer Lawrence’s role as Katniss in The Hunger Games and especially Manohla Dargis from New York Times who criticized her for her weight.
She’s right. And very well said I might add. Still, its ok to wonder if she had plastic surgery or not. It’s natural curiosity. It’s when it gets out of hand that its disrespectful.