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 .

@LaMarschallin

It's actually a legitimate, recognised term in English parlance

I know.

You just used it incorrectly, my little creme de menthe.

Oh dear.....you again? Sigh......ok, I said "I understand actress is no longer a de rigueur term". The Collins English Dictionary states that "de rigueur" means......"required by etiquette or current fashion". SO....my point was that the word "actress" GOES AGAINST "etiquette or current fashion". Meaning it is no longer relevant, or whatever word you want to use. If you only come on Mumsnet to ridicule people, then I pity you. You can respond all you like, but I am shutting down this conversation as it has become boring. Goodnight.

One of my favourite actresses is Harriet Walter, who is now 70. She has been quite outspoken about embracing ageing, wrinkles and having a face that looks lived in. She still gets amazing roles.

I actually thought Felicity Kendall looked amazing! She looked fit, vivacious and as though she’s only had minimal work done. Anyway, I love her, always have done.

@SlightlyJaded
Lauren Hutton looks great in her 70s. She still looks like Lauren Hutton. It’s lovely to be able to recognise the younger face still in the face of an older woman.

@Russellbrandshair I didn't read the OP as pointing & laughing though.

@wowier

They're casting for the mother of a 20 year old. The casting brief is for a 30-40 yo woman...

Why do they do this?! I like seeing different aged women on tv. It's like when it's normal in films for a 60 yr old to have a 30 yr old wife/partner. Why can't they be the same age!!!

Yes the ageism in films is mindbendingly stupid. Maggie Gyllenahaal once said in an interview that she was turned down for a role as she was only 17 years younger than the male lead. And they needed someone younger than that to play his love interest.

Yes it's really strange that this bizarre, unnatural, kind of eye-poppingly distorted look is considered preferable to just being older and having some wrinkles.

Here's one of my older woman style heroes vivienne westood - yes she's an older woman with wrinkles and looks her age, but is beautiful and stylish and looks very warm and humane. Why would you want take the Felicity Kendal route instead?

(I don't know if she's had work done btw, but it's not that alien-style too-much-surgery look)

Likewise Iris apfel

I know these women aren't actors - but they are in the public eye and in a visual field and being old and looking old doesn't stop them.

But that’s not what this thread is- it’s a point and laugh “ew she looks gross !” thing

I really don’t think it is. Of course I might be reading a different thread ...

Kristin Scott Thomas is another who I'm pretty sure has had nothing done and looks incredible, as a beautiful woman of her age.

LindyLou2020

I think unfortunately some people do look better after surgery, loathe though I am to say it, and that fuels the industry. But they don’t look better after fillers and Botox.

I think if it’s good work you don’t notice it!

True! But if you're in the public eye, everybody will always know, your earlier photos will always be online forever for people to compare, and people will sneer and assume that anything that looks good is because of the surgery - ergo, you must have been (and thus naturally ARE) hideous before, even if you've just had a very minimal procedure.

Yes the ageism in films is mindbendingly stupid.

I may be wrong but we seem to have more female producers now, more content & stories made for women (because you know 50% of the population may be worth targeting) but I'm still not seeing more age diversity. Maybe it will change though.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I think if it’s good work you don’t notice it!

True! But if you're in the public eye, everybody will always know, your earlier photos will always be online forever for people to compare, and people will sneer and assume that anything that looks good is because of the surgery - ergo, you must have been (and thus naturally ARE) hideous before, even if you've just had a very minimal procedure.

That’s such a good point. No matter how good the work it’s pretty obvious when someone suddenly looks ten years younger than they did last year.

Someone who I think looks beautiful in her unbotoxed and unfillered glory is Lesley Manville. She looked positively luminous in Mum. She's anti botox.

It's because from birth we are all completely brainwashed to judge women for how they look. I mean this is patriarchy 101.

But that’s not what this thread is- it’s a point and laugh “ew she looks gross !” thing

I don't think it is - it's asking why this is expected and why people want to look unnatural and/or unrecognisable.

It's human nature to find a very changed or naturally impossible face alarming. It's odd that so many people - but mainly women - are doing this. As a PP said it's not just female film and TV stars, I feel the same about lip fillers and things.

The beauty industry stands to collapse if we allow women to believe their naturally ageing bodies are acceptable. Thats men losing money and that just won’t be allowed to happen.

Watching friends re-run on Netflix and was shocked to see what Courtney Cox had done to her face in her early 30's-looked absolutely amazing up until the point she started pissing about with botox/lip fillers etc.
Melanie Griffith
Pamela Anderson
Tara Reid
Carla Bruni
Jesus dont even start me on Nicole(i just get plenty of sleep and drink 3 litres of water)Kidman...or Kylie (its good genes)Minogue.
At least acknowlege and own it ffs...you just seem like you are delusional as well as vision-impaired.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I think if it’s good work you don’t notice it!

True! But if you're in the public eye, everybody will always know, your earlier photos will always be online forever for people to compare, and people will sneer and assume that anything that looks good is because of the surgery - ergo, you must have been (and thus naturally ARE) hideous before, even if you've just had a very minimal procedure.

Yes that’s true. The funny thing is even though getting work done is common place in those circles, I think it’s still quite taboo to be open about it. So a lot of people in the public eye will say things like oh I drink a lot of water! I do a lot of skin care! I sleep 8 hours a night and exercise regularly! rather than being open about what they’ve had. Similar to women who get Brazilian bum lifts and then claim they’ve just being doing their squats .

It seems like a strange cycle that almost everyone in that industry has work done, but everyone knows that, but few are vocal about it.

I don't know what this thread will achieve though? I absolutely agree that women should not feel obliged to have plastic surgery to change their looks, they shouldn't feel pressurised to do so and should be employable in whatever career they choose.

People (women mostly) devour celebrity gossip magazines, click every link going for celebrity 'news' and talk about how females look at every turn. I do absolutely none of those things because I hate our gutter press with a vengeance and if I could blot them out of existence, I would. Even if it's a non-gossip piece I won't read it/click on it because I want this crappy 'journalism' to die.

As a people though, we won't stop it. We celebrate schadenfreude to make ourselves feel better and do a little happy dance if we see that a beautiful woman has flaws/cellulite, etc. Until we stop dong that, women will feel obliged to go under the knife to achieve what she perceives is what's needed. It is tragic.

How is hand-wringing about it on here going to change that? I'm genuinely interested in what could be done to stem this tide. I have a daughter, I wouldn't want her in the acting profession or any other where her looks as she ages will impact her employability.

Is there an actual answer to this?

@SmidgenofaPigeon

I think you’re being a bit strange to be upset or saddened on their behalf

I suspect this is a veiled way of getting posters to pile on and have a good bitch about various female actor’s faces.

Good it's right that they get slated..... Too many young women want to emulate some of these "plastic celebs". Rather we bitch about them than go on about how wonderful they look. They put themselves in the public's eye and thrive on attention and undeserving admiration. Why the hell shouldn't we gripe about them. Celebs aren't meant to be just fawned over. Why is it strange to have an opinion on this?

@VinylDetective

You only think it’s harsh because you’ve just been proved wrong *@tentimesaday*. Dench is 87 this year. She looks it. And has my utmost respect for it. Her face isn’t her fortune, her talent is.

Naa, no way she never had plastic surgery. Would bet anything that she did - maybe not recently, I'll give you that.

Her face IS her fortune. She'd never have been cast as M if she looked like a haggard old woman.

@Thisisnotreallymyname

I don’t think I’m strange at all feeling cross. I’m annoyed it’s mostly women that feel the need to be ever youthful, yet men tend to be allowed to age and they become “ distinguished “ “ characterful “ etc.

You say that but lots of men have work done

It's because from birth we are all completely brainwashed to judge women for how they look. I mean this is patriarchy 101.

This is true, but it's not as if all this surgery is resulting in women who actually do meet those patriarchal standards. As the OP said, they frequently take it to such extremes that they look strange and mask-like.

I think there might be an element of being unable to see how you look to others - like what can happen with anorexia and body dysmorphia. I saw a documentary about tanning where people were tanning so excessively they were starting to look really odd, but one person said looking back she just couldn't see it, however much she did it, she felt like she needed more.