My birthday is next month and I am already feeling like I am about one hip replacement short of getting my AARP card. It is bad enough that when I went to get my regular skin check at the dermatologist's office last week the doctor asked me at least four times if I wanted some Botox. I get it: I look like an old hag. But my fear is that once you start the injectables a little becomes a little more and next thing you know you have a frozen cat face.
Megan Fox, for example, was a little known actress until she starred in the Michael Bay film Transformers. Known for her body, and less for her actual acting chops, she has reportedly had Botox, eyelid surgery, a nose job, cheek fillers, laser skin resurfacing and lip injections to alter her appearance. “I’m insecure,” the Friends With Kids actress recently admitted. “I [hardly ever] look at myself, even in still photographs.” She is only 25 years old.
Megan Fox - 2010
So you mix insecurity with a desire to become famous in an industry that gives you work largely based on how you look. Then in turn we women see the cover photo of an actress we like who is probably surviving on a 500 calorie diet with false eyelashes, hair extensions, and a body tweaked by a plastic surgeon in a designer gown with professional makeup, and even that is airbrushed.
Ladies, here is something to brighten your day.
Cate Blanchett graces the cover of Intelligent Life this month in an untouched photo. The magazine’s editor, Tim de Lisle, explained the reasoning behind the un-retouched image in his editor’s letter: “When other magazines photograph actresses, they routinely end up running heavily Photoshopped images, with every last wrinkle expunged. Their skin is rendered so improbably smooth that, with the biggest stars, you wonder why the photographer didn’t just do a shoot with their waxwork...She looks like what she is” continues de Lisle, “a woman of 42, spending her days in an office, her evenings on stage and the rest of her time looking after three young children.
(Photo: The Economist)
Do you think Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, or Angelina Jolie would ever let you see them without the help of some needles, a makeup artist, and a Photoshop Editor?
That is who we are, my friends. Sometimes you don't have enough time to completely brush your hair before you walk out the door. You don't always have the time to put on makeup when your kids are screaming, you have a stack of paperwork calling your name, and you still haven't figured out how to get back into your skinny jeans. You have lines around your mouth and that canal that lies between your eyes. But confidence is beauty.
Can we all raise a collective glass of wine tonight for Cate Blanchett?
-Kate Casey
Kate Casey is a Pop Culture Lover. PR Pro. New mom. Comedy nerd. Celebrity gossip fan. Follow her on Twitter
