Cosmetic surgery freaks out L.A. Times readers too, critic finds

When I wrote the article that ran in Sunday's Calendar section ("On TV: Botox. Face-lifts. Reconstructive Surgery.") about how cosmetic surgery and other procedures are conspiring to make more and more actors look weird, I was more than a little nervous. That people would think I was crazy or mean or petty in my complaints that it's hard to focus on a television show when you're wondering whether this actor or that actor was in some terrible fire you didn't hear about.

As it turns out, I am far from alone. E-mails have been pouring in from frustrated television viewers grateful for the chance to talk about this "elephant in the living room." Listing men and women, actors after actor, newscaster after newscaster as offenders, many viewers say they are so disgusted or demoralized, or both, that they have stopped watching some of their favorite shows.

The television industry shouldn't just dismiss this as minor kvetching. Because the people who have been writing to me say they also consider the apparent assumption that the audience is either too dumb to notice or too jaded to care to be insulting and part of a widening gap between those who make television and those who watch it.

In other words, the issue is far from cosmetic any more, and should, perhaps, give entertainers pause. Just because you can make your nose smaller or your cheeks fuller or your eyes tighter doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

For my part, I am grateful for the reassurance we writer types so desperately need. It's nice to know that I'm not crazy, not just an envious, querulous, aging mother of three who would probably go ahead and have lipo except I'm pretty sure they don't make lipo machines big enough. Some of these people really do look weird. And not just to me.

(For those who argued that one of the women I listed as looking very much like herself after years in the biz has, in fact, been public about her cosmetic surgery -- and you know who you are -- please let me know where she has been public. Not just evidence from sketchy blogs. Because I couldn't find it, and if it's true, we definitely need to get the name of her very excellent surgeon out there. Fast.)

-- Mary McNamara

Comments

[Frank]

I think the shows, movies and media should humiliate and lable these cosmetic surgery freaks to encourge that you have problems if you change your apperence. They should point out that those people are fake. All the shows are doing is encourging comsmetic surgery buy not pointing it out to the public.

[todd]

I'm not kidding when I saw the photo the Times ran of Priscilla Presley gave me nightmares. I still can't get over how much that photo made her look like Rocky Dennis from "Mask."

[Pinkbike]

They looks like creatures, don't they? Yech. I'm so glad to be able to age peacefully. Besides, all my wrinkles all have fabulous memories associated with them, from my windsurfing days, magical times studying whales in Baja, long rides on my Thoroughbred mare, great bike rides down the Central Coast, you-name-it! Wrinkles rule!

[Native Angeleno]

I certainly hope the person you were referring to is NOT Joan Rivers.
My gawd, she looks like Madame the Puppet.

[amc]

This kind of article is WAY overdue. It is horrifying how awful some of these women look-and a truly frightening statement in so many ways about our society too. Aging is not always easy or graceful for any of us, but to mutilate yourself in the quest to look younger (which almost never works-and is clearly obvious to all ) is self-hate that is sad to see. And I agree that i can no longer look at Priscilla Presley or Jessica Lange (another debacle) without cringing...

[Daisy]

Didn't LA Times just run an article about how there is a slow down in the whole cosmetic surgery because of the economy? They showed a picture of a woman who was getting botox and lip plumping every 6 weeks for $1800. She did not look good! How can people think that this stuff looks attractive? YUK!

[LCSusan]

Overdone plastic surgery doesn't make people look younger, it just changes the face of age.

http://strictlyanecdotal.com/2008/04/09/forty--the-new-sixty.aspx

[Patrick nolan]

Wow,

It is scary getting old in TV land

[Grace]

When I saw that picture of Priscilla Presley, I honestly had NO IDEA who--or what--it was. Oh...my...goodness...WHAT has she done to her face?! She used to be a pretty woman and now she's unrecognizable. Other celebrities, such as Cher, have had so much "work" done they're barely recognizable as themselves, but some--like Presley--have ended up looking not even human. What's wrong with these people? Why can't they be happy with what they already had?

[Pittsburgh Girl]

As a twenty-something working actress in LA, the offenders mentioned in Sunday's article serve as a reminder to stick to the basics everytime I feel like slacking: don't smoke, don't sleep in makeup, take vitamins, drink plenty of water, wear sunblock daily, wear a hat at the beach.

[Lori]

In your article on Sunday you hoped that Felicity Huffman didn't get so desparate as to take the cosmetic plunge. But it looked to me on Sunday night that she probably had some
Botox. If she just keeps with that, she looked ok. The problem is so many of these women don't know when to stop. Following Desparate Housewives I saw Eli Stone for the first time. Katey Sagal was almost unrecognizable... almost like Lara Flynn Boyle, who comes in a close second to Priscilla Presley.

[KWRo]

Plastic surgery has been going on for decades. The Other story here is the incompetent plastic surgeons. Where is this surgery being done? Your story is not complete.

[NYC Gal]

This may be a minor point, but Audrey Hepburn had nothing done. Nothing. And she was always extraordinary looking.

This should be reason enough for all of us...

[Natalie]

I'm so glad to read an article in a major publication that addresses this issue. "Gasp! Eeee gaaad! What the heck did you do to your face?" I don't think this is quite the reaction hoped for by these actresses (and actors). And how exactly are you supposed to convincingly display emotion if your face doesn't move? Honestly watching TV and movies these days is often like watching stepford wives parade on screen. Younger actors and actresses will supplant you for sure if you keep the cosmetic procedures up because at least their faces have movement and feeling. How sad that these folks feel the need to turn themselves into alien like creatures instead of aging gracefully. It's inevitable that we will all get older and lose our youthful appearances. Lots of water, plenty of rest, healthy food, enough exercise, NO CIGARETTES OR DRUGS, moderate alcohol consumption (if you partake) and sun screen sun screen sun screen. That's all anyone can do, the rest is up to genetics. Please ladies (and gents), stop doing this to yourselves!

[No Tucking]

Thank you Mary McNamara! I've actually started watching more BBC-America than network or U.S. cable shows because the faces actually move. Who'd a thunk? Actors whose elastic faces can express emotions and whose eyes and faces look surprised only when called for. It's almost worth the jarring commercial interruptions.

So many stars take the nipping, tucking, and bo-toxing too far suffering disfiguring consequences. They look "off" or wrong or simply scary. My kids were channel surfing, stopping at the Dance Show and asked me repeatedly, "What's wrong with that woman's face?"

Do they not see it? I guess if you're surrounded by others whose eybrows are now part of their hairline, it seems normal. But to a viewer it's offputting to say the least.

[wwashing]

People who complain about what others choose to do with/to their own bodies should get a life of their own.

If someone wants to get cosmetic surgery it's their business and none of mine. Really!

[Spork]

It's the emergence of a plastic surgery aesthetic, and it's terrible. All these women who have the same procedures all wind up looking alike in the same way that all children with downs syndrome share the same basic, and immediately recognizable, facial features.

Just look at Peppa of Salt 'n Peppa fame. She looks more like an alien diva from outer space than a soulful sista from the 'hood now.

Oh, and Mickey Rourke. Oh. My. God. What the hell was that idiot thinking? That the look of his role as Marv was a good plan for real life? Burt Reynolds? He looks like a fish in a hair piece. Nicole Kidman is the alien queen with an immobile forehead to match.

Remember those Duracell commercials a few years back in which all the actors had layers of semi-rigid plastic layered on themselves to appear as life-sized action figures? Fake and plasticy and gross? That's where we're headed, people.

[javier]

It is sad to see people change for the worse. How do we tell this to our next generation before they get boob jobs at 16, 17, 18 yrs??? What about the body art?(tatoos) When will some stop? do they know what it will look like in 20 yrs? Start showing more before and after pictures, that might work.

javier

[mike]

It's true that anyone should be able to do whatever they want to their own bodies. I don't think the article is telling people they SHOULDN'T do it, but rather saying, for one, that it should be okay to talk about it. If someone has their nose replaced with a elephant's nose, should we all pretend that the new nose isn't there?

Another point is this: if a baseball player chooses to have his leg amputated, sports writers will 1) talk about it and 2) talk about his declining statistics in his chosen field. A novelist will probably still function well as a novelist with only one leg, but a baseball player will probably have to retire. One of the most important tools in an actor's arsenal is their face/facial expressions. If that face becomes grotesque because of plastic surgery, or immobile because of botox, etc., perhaps it is time for that actor to retire. Perhaps it is time for those who write about acting should talk about the actor's declining skills.

Another point is this: even if a person takes impeccable care of themselves, eats well and exercises, never gets any kind of "work" done, they are STILL GOING TO GET OLD AND DIE. Audrey Hepburn and a very few others can remain radiant and lovely deep into their golden years, but a good piece of the reason for that is DNA.

There are many more points to be made about this, but I'll stop here.

[erin]

All the plastic surgery is driving me away from certain shows. Seeing that someone butchered their face. 90% of acting is using your face and if it's all stretched and shiny or weirdly frozen you can't do your job. I wish they would stop casting these people and put it in their contracts they can't radically chage their appearance.

[Carol M]

A problem with Botox is that it looks like a miracle drug when you look at yourself in the mirror. When you look in the mirror, though, you are mostly expressionless, so a smooth forehead and eyes really are striking. But when you interact with those in your life, or when an actor is performing, it's the fleeting emotions across the face that make others connect with you. And those emotions are expressed by quick skin movements around the eyes and mouth.
I remember watching Renee Zellweger being interviewed at an awards show on the red carpet a year or two ago. Only her lower face was moving. She's an undeniably talented actress, but her success does not lie in beauty. Not that she's unattractive, but she hasn't built a career on being a bombshell with talent. It's been about talent, period. WIthout facial expression, where is that talent expressed?
Hopefully, if Hollywood becomes more honest about this issue, we'll reach a point of balance where good looks can be accepted with a little humanity. Obviously, Hollywood will always strive for idealized beauty. But hopefully, that ideal can exist with a few laugh lines.

[deering]

Nobody can convince me Nicolette Sheridan hasn't had something done. Her mouth seems at strange odds with her face, and at times her face looks as if it was pinched, but the skin didn't spring back. And has Christina Ricci had work done? Because ,honest to God, I did not recognize her at all in the SPEED RACER trailer--I thought she was a new actress I'd missed.

[deering]

@Frank...

It's not the actresses that should get the public shaming--it's the writer/directors, producers, casting directors, and studio executives who these women rely on for work. Too many of them are the ones who think the only women-that-count look like 13-year-olds--and they get away with it because their attitudes are seldom exposed publically. If the media consistently held these guys' feet to the fire on why their projects and best lead roles only feature young women, at least some changes would be made.

[deering]

And I'd love to see Nikki Finke or some blogger send someone undercover in the industry for a year to secretly suss out what attitudes those-that-hire _really_ have about women in general. Bet the resulting article would be more interesting (not to mention scary) than a year's worth of Hollywood product. :)

[Patrick]

I don't understand the compaints. Sure Priscilla Presley has overdone the injections, as have Cher and Olivia Newton-John, making them puffy and moon-faced, but many of the women mentioned look really good, particularly for their age. Barbara Walters? The woman looks wonderful! Dolly Parton looks bad because she's adding to much filler to her lips and not enough to her face. The anorexic look favored by Posh, Renee (what must her mother think?), Debra Messing and, in particular, Kyra Knightley, is what disturbs me. These women would look so much better gaining ten to fifteen pounds.

[Patrick]

More thoughts: a few weeks ago I attended a performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Julie Andrews was sitting in front of me, one seat to my right, four feet away at the most. As she turned to talk to friends and family, I noticed that with only the slightest amount of makeup, she looked flawless. No lines or wrinkles to be seen, and perfectly natural looking as well. Had I not known she was in her early to mid-seventies, I would have thought she was in her late forties or early fifties, a woman who had taken good care of herself, with perhaps a bit of surgery, but nothing that had distorted her features, or taken away from her natural beauty. Never would I have come close to guessing her true age. She also seemed transcendently nice, a truly good person, so perhaps God has rewarded her with eternal youth. But as a great teacher and friend once said: when I see perfection, I suspect art.

[Kay]

I don't think any of these women intended to look 'done' or 'plastic'. They probably had an idea in their heads of how the surgery would turn out but unfortunately didn't turn out like they expected. Or it could be when they first had the procedures they looked fine, but with the natural ageing process it created a wierd look where you had these perfectly plumped up tight areas along with sagging hollow areas which gives an unnatural and odd look.

This is coming from someone who knows a lot about cosmetic surgery as I have worked in the industry and also had some myself.

[carlylejt]

while i agree with you 100% - plastic surgery makes people look plastic, and hence hurts their ability to "look human" ad convey important emotions - i have a hard time berating these women for not "aging gracefully" as some of the above posters would suggest.

if someone told me that i couldn't keep my job, forward my career, compete in the workplace or feed my family because i wasn't young enough and didn't look it, i can't honestly say i wouldn't go under the knife - would you?

i don't think that given the choice anyone would want to rearrange their face to the extent some of these women are doing it just for kicks - but at the end of the day, this is a business - and although purely entertainment to us, to them it is their livelyhood.