Actresses - Feel so cross - ruined by plastic surgery

[Thisisnotreallymyname]

Feel so sad - been watching TV and why is it that women ( in the main ) feel the need to absolutely ruin their faces with fillers, Botox, face lifts, to the point where they look deformed, or like they are wearing shiny masks.
Felicity Kendal last night on Graham Norton, Fern Britton on Mastermind, Sally Thomsett on Pointless Celeb........
Do they not see what we see when they look in the mirror ?
I’ve nothing against PSurgery, but my God, please know when to stop !

IABU - they look fine
IANBU -they look awful .

@merrymouse

It's clear they have taken her very worst expressions for the photos.

Agree, and its poisonous - faux complimentary headlines, 'concern' for somebody's health because they leave the house without make up, intrusive photos of famous people 'embracing their curves', 'friends worry' because x celeb is too thin. There is no way to win - there is always a way to take an unflattering photo.

It's what sells though isn't it? Nothing like seeing a successful woman brought down to cheer people up.

If FK had not had work done to her face, then there would be no story as Daily Mail etc unlikely to report when Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Penelope Keith are on tv shows. So perhaps that is the way of winning as newspapers etc. have little natural interest in post menopausal women who haven't had work done.

And yes I do have a bit of car crash interest, as someone who's not and never has been naturally beautiful it's interesting and sad to see how the ageing process impacts some people and sometimes makes me glad that I didn't have much to lose in the first place.

Agree, and its poisonous - faux complimentary headlines, 'concern' for somebody's health because they leave the house without make up, intrusive photos of famous people 'embracing their curves', 'friends worry' because x celeb is too thin. There is no way to win - there is always a way to take an unflattering photo.

I totally agree that the "faux" concern is hideous and women in particular in the public eye, cannot win. I remember a photo of Zara Tindall in the DM riding a horse after maternity leave, which they titled, "Zara looks healthy" , the implication being that she was overweight, when she had a perfectly normal body and was up on an Olympic level event horse, which I imagine would be beyond the ability of most male DM journalists.

Similarly, women can never just walk along the beach or red carpet or pavement , they are "making a show " of themselves or are "showing off". Horrible mysogynistic language.

Lauren Bacall said that beautiful women die twice, with the first being when the looks go. For actresses that is more of a game changer than the average woman. The roles that they get playing around their real age dwindles during their middle years, they might come good in the later years. So, you can see the pressure. From ingenue or love interest to grandmother is a short journey in the showbiz world. Really unfair when men don't face the same pressure.

Male celebs don't suffer the same pressure in their 30s and in middle age but at of of them seem to freak out as they approach their autumn years. Sylvester Stallone, Robert Redford, Mickey Rourke etc. John Travolta and Tom Cruise are clearly no strangers to aesthetic enhancements either.

The Daily Mail hates women. They are okay if they are slim and young, but if there is fat or age involved, they see women as objects to be ridiculed. It is highly misogynistic but a lot of people who "write" the articles dressed up as faux compliments are women. The article about Felicity Kendal was written by a woman. As well as the entertainment industry, the media needs to change the way it operates. I actually think the Mail is worse than The Sun, and that's saying something.

There are some countries where they have older women in their movies and they can get main roles. And they look normal. I wish US and British films were more equal like that.

There are some examples where plastic surgery can make people look good(granted that’s subjective), but it can quite often be so distracting. Especially when it comes to lips and that’s not an age thing you get women in their 20s who get inflated lips. It just distorts their face and your eyes are drawn to it.

I was watching Designated Survivor on Netflix the other day (with teens) and there was a still shot of Kiefer Sutherland and Natascha McElhone sideways on, sharing a kiss, and their implants looked really odd, like Mr and Mrs Punch. I know that sounds a horrible thing to say but my thoughts were not "oh god they look hideous" but "my goodness what a shame such naturally attractive people felt the need to do that to themselves". As my Irish granny used to say, "be grateful for what God gave you and use it for the good".

@bellascousin

You can't apply slap and have your hair dyed then criticise women for having something else done which doesn't fit with your own narrow-minded and judgemental attitudes - or rather prejudices. It's illogical.

I'm not criticising anybody or judging. I'm saying that society dictates. Does it dictate that I wear makeup? yes, eg to work. If I lived on a desert island I wouldn't be bothering.

You sound to be the one judging to me, if you look at your own language

I am being very judgy, yes, about the fact that you accused women of "being 'ashamed' of looking older as youth=attractiveness".

If I lived on a desert island with a mirror and make up I'd still apply it because I do it for ME just the same as I'm now WFH and wearing full make up. It's nothing to do with being ashamed or society.

I think there is a huge difference between applying a little colour to the cheeks and a decent hair cut and basically rearranging your features.

I am being very judgy, yes, about the fact that you accused women of "being 'ashamed' of looking older as youth=attractiveness".

I haven't accused anyone of anything, I said that women shouldn't have to feel ashamed of ageing and nor should we buy into the narrative that youth=attractiveness. It's disingenuous to suggest I said otherwise.

People have worn make up and had their hair done for thousands of years. Injecting things into your face is new.

I think it's disingenuous to suggest that it's hypocritical to care about your appearance at all, just because you think something's gone wrong when women are having extreme cosmetic surgery to the point of not really looking human.

It's like being concerned about the rise in boob and butt jobs and being told "well you wear a bra don't you?"

It's a continuum, but that doesn't mean there's no difference between different points on the continuum. That's the whole point of the phrase "slippery slope". A little can lead to a lot, can lead to so much that it could be really regrettable of affect you very negatively.

People look after, modify and give attention to their appearance - that's true of both sexes and has been throughout human history. Make-up, hairdos, hair removal/rearrangement, all these things are well-established and most importantly reversible. Having your face carved up and injected with stuff is not.

That's not to say it's always "wrong" in some sense - but it's OK to be aware and alert to the phenomenon and discuss why and how it happens, what lies behind it.

And women - and men - do have a choice. No one is being forcibly marched to the surgeon's AFAIK. And their choices affect others. I don't want to attack women for how they look, and I don't think I have, but nor do I want to suggest that women are all weak helpless ninnies in the face of patriarchal demands.

Herselfindoors, I think you have made good points, but I disagree with this:

'No one is being forcibly marched to the surgeon's AFAIK.'

If the choice is between working and not working many will feel they don't have a choice.

People look after, modify and give attention to their appearance - that's true of both sexes and has been throughout human history. Make-up, hairdos, hair removal/rearrangement, all these things are well-established and most importantly reversible. Having your face carved up and injected with stuff is not.

I agree. It's patently ridiculous to suggest putting on a bit of lipstick and blusher is equivalent to cosmetic surgery.

@merrymouse

Herselfindoors, I think you have made good points, but I disagree with this:

'No one is being forcibly marched to the surgeon's AFAIK.'

If the choice is between working and not working many will feel they don't have a choice.

There’s always a choice. If there was no choice, why are there actresses who don’t have work?

I just can’t believe people are still defending deification of youth.

Surely at some point Nicole Kidman will stop being offered roles, with her face so stretched and stiff she can no longer really act, she can't even widen her eyes in surprise anymore. And Simon Cowell just looks awful, he doesn't look young, just increasingly strange. Worst of all though is that young people, almost always women, feel the need to plump up their lips and get injections into their face. Two of my dns, who are only in their 20s, have lip fillers and botox around their mouths and although they think they are subtle i find it very distracting when they are speaking as their lips move in an odd way. The awful thing is that they don't look any better, (they were already very pretty) different yes, but not better. It seems that fillers etc are seen as just the next step up from make up.

One of my concerns is that essentially these are medical and invasive procedures rather than simply beauty.

And pretty expensive. But as they became normalised or more mainstream, and more people want them, that opens the door for unqualified or unscrupulous people offering bargain botox or reduced price procedures....with potentially dangerous consequences. (Because having botox and fillers is inevitably more of an expense than simply buying makeup or having your hair done)

If you get an apprentice doing your hair for cheap you might get the wrong colour or a shit hair style.* Then you with either have to pay someone to correct/modify it, or wait a month or 2 until it grows out. That's not really the same for having botched surgery corrected.

I'm not fully against anyone having work done but think it's a worrying development that having chemicals injected into your face is seen as akin to putting make up on. And for women in their 20s or 30s, who a generation ago, probably would not have been considering facial surgery unless it was for medical reasons.

*that isnt a dig about hairdressing apprentices, I've had bargain apts with trainees and been happy with the results!

There’s always a choice. If there was no choice, why are there actresses who don’t have work?

You think they are choosing not to work?

I meant cosmetic procedures when I said “work”. I’d have thought that was patently obvious.

I won’t bother with a silly face, tempting though it is.

@Exhausteddog

One of my concerns is that essentially these are medical and invasive procedures rather than simply beauty.

And pretty expensive. But as they became normalised or more mainstream, and more people want them, that opens the door for unqualified or unscrupulous people offering bargain botox or reduced price procedures....with potentially dangerous consequences. (Because having botox and fillers is inevitably more of an expense than simply buying makeup or having your hair done)

If you get an apprentice doing your hair for cheap you might get the wrong colour or a shit hair style.* Then you with either have to pay someone to correct/modify it, or wait a month or 2 until it grows out. That's not really the same for having botched surgery corrected.

I'm not fully against anyone having work done but think it's a worrying development that having chemicals injected into your face is seen as akin to putting make up on. And for women in their 20s or 30s, who a generation ago, probably would not have been considering facial surgery unless it was for medical reasons.

*that isnt a dig about hairdressing apprentices, I've had bargain apts with trainees and been happy with the results!

This is not going to happen @Exhausteddog

There is ongoing regulation for people doing this treatment. They are tightening up the rules.

And it's not really 'chemicals' - most fillers are made of the same stuff as we have in our faces anyway, and it's also in so many face creams these days. It's completely natural and can be dissolved if someone doesn't like it- the next day.

That's not really the same for having botched surgery corrected.

It's not surgery! No one other than a fully qualified surgeon can do surgery on someone's face.

If you read the Style and Beauty forum here you will learn more on all of this.

The starting point for fillers is 0.5ml of liquid. That is half an ml- in reality it's about 2 drops.

It's funny how something 'completely natural' leaves so many people with such unnatural looking faces.

My friends cousin is a top plastic surgeon in LA and she said EVERYONE , men and women in hollywood have had work done, simply everyone. Just some work is better than others
Kate Winslet goes on about never having botox but her forehead looks higher and smoother to me now than it did 10 years ago
If everyone around you is getting it done you look disproportionally wrinkled in comparison. Look at Naomi Watts, she doesn't look like she has had anything done but she looks ancient compared to a lot of her peers.
Bradley Cooper now looks like Barry Manilow.
Most stars look completely unrecognizable compared to pre fame.

I don't think Hollywood has ever seen a face that they didn't think needed improving. Nose and teeth at the very minimum.

I was watching Gladiator recently, which was made in 2000, and thought there's no way the main female lead would have got the part in 2021 unless she'd had her teeth 'fixed' first. They really stood out as being normal teeth.

@VinylDetective

I meant cosmetic procedures when I said “work”. I’d have thought that was patently obvious.

I won’t bother with a silly face, tempting though it is.

I was genuinely confused, given that my post was about work in the sense of having a job.

Also, posters have explained at length the difference between being Judi Dench and a jobbing actress up for a part in the latest ITV crime drama. I didn’t realise it had all gone over your head.