Comments on: Damned if they do, damned if they don’t

By: Jenna McCarthy

Jenna McCarthy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:09:54 +0000

What a freaking liar! Those perky, upturned breasts are real MY ASS! (Real boobs slip under your armpits in a puddle when you lie on your back, Demi.) Denying that is the equivalent of saying “Unlike you, I am uniquely genetically blessed.” But whatever. I personally LOVE it when celebs admit to having “work” done. Makes me think if I had gobshites of money, I’d be a goddess, too. That’s a thought I cling to frequently…

By: Kely Nascimento-DeLuca

Kely Nascimento-DeLuca — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:15:34 +0000

I think it would be perfectly fine if Demi, or anyone else, were to say “I don’t want to talk about this part of my life” period. I think its kind of silly to claim she’s had nothing done.

Even though it is possible to look much younger now a days without actually cutting (peeling, plumping, scraping, etc), that doesn’t account for her rock-like boobies in all of those stills from her striptease movie!

It imagine that for a lot of women it has very little to do with how they look to others and soooo much more about how it makes them feel when they look at themselves, so I don’t know if it really matters that no one is buying it anymore.

By: Joel Jacobs

Joel Jacobs — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:15:17 +0000

At the risk of stating the obvious, her reluctance is not based on some stigma associated with plastic surgery that signals it’s on its way out. It’s based on a desire for people to think she looks that way naturally. So I don’t think you can lump this in with other phenomena that people either talk about or don’t based on whether they think people will hate them, e.g. admitting they’re gay. I also think the desire to look attractive is so powerful in our culture that the spectrum of the possible runs from socially acceptable/openly acknowledged to not discussed/still widespread. It’s hard to imagine “not done” as an option.

On the other hand, my motivations at 17 to get a nose job are pretty accurately summarized by Alan.

My wife Denise just blew my mind a few days ago when she explained that most women in their 20s and older alter their hair color in some way. I hadn’t really thought about it before, now I feel like the whole world is unnatural. What I wonder about is the other side of your question: what happens when everyone becomes tuned into the artificiality, and getting plastic surgery or coloring your hair doesn’t let you “pass” for younger anymore? Would people stop doing it?

By: Lisa Gioia-Acres

Lisa Gioia-Acres — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:36:45 +0000

I am tired of wishing I had the body I once had. It’s been a long haul but I am learning to appreciate the one I possess now, in my 50s with my great skin, health, and intellect. Thank goodness some in the media are finally getting it. Check out Glamour Magazine’s wonderful picture of a 20-year-old!

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2009/08/on-the-cl-the-picture-you-cant.html

By: Juli

Juli — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:14:52 +0000

No one looks THAT good at 47. Let’s face it…Demi has had lots of work to look like she does. Whether she admits it or not, her gifted surgeon has taken years off her face and body. It seems that if an actress has had “sex-poy” acting roles throughout her career, she doesn’t admit to the surgery. But…if an character actress or comedienne has had some work, they freely admit it…maybe it’s hard to get further sex-pot roles if your audience knows you’re ‘lifted’.

By: Jane Gassner

Jane Gassner — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:33:57 +0000

I remember when Demi Moore copped to have her breasts enlarged. Around the same time that she was running 92 miles a day to keep her GI Jane body. I think the issue isn’t privacy so much as holding oneself up as a role model. There are ways for her to take herself off that pedastal if she is too uncomfortable talking about the Work she’s had done to admit to it.

By: Demetra

Demetra — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:42:32 +0000

Wait… didn’t she publicly admit that she enlarged her breasts years ago and that it made her feel so much better about herself etc… or am I mistaken?

By: Karla

Karla — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:32:53 +0000

They do it because of their career choice–the 18-34 crowd won’t go to a movie featuring a 47-year-old sex pot unless they can imagine she’s one of them (18-34). Why they lie about it, I don’t know. Perhaps that also has to do with their career choice—they “pretend” for a living.

By: alanb

alanb — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:25:11 +0000

Being honest about having undergone *elective* plastic surgery isn’t just about being honest about having undergone plastic surgery…

…it’s also being honest about:

(i) the fact that you were so unhappy with yourself-in-your-natural-form, subject to your normal settling/decay, that you were willing to pay someone to alter your terrestrial physical manifestation,

(ii) your belief that superficial meat-and-skin-rearrangements will make others appreciate you-in-your-entirety more,

(iii) your belief that superficial meat-and-skin-rearrangements will make *you* appreciate you-in-your-entirety more, and

(iv) your decision to buy a quick-and-easy solution whose success depended more upon your doctor’s skill than your fortitude and dedication (to, say… diet, exercise or a rigorous and comprehensive exfoliation program).

When I’m gauging someone’s *gestalt*, I’ll want to know about those things…

By: Cat Perry

Cat Perry — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:52:20 +0000

Steph, I’m also torn about this. On the one hand, even as a pretty vocal feminist, it’s hard for me to honestly say that if I had Demi ( or CHER’S) unlimited funds that I wouldn’t be tempted. And yet, I do hate that this is even still such a freakin’ issue!
My feelings (typically Aquarian) are this:

A) Demi has every right to privacy in regard to whatever medical/surgical procedures she has done, YES even cosmetic ones. She’s under a kind of scrutiny and pressure that few of us (even those of us who teach yoga/work at a major women’s mag/exercise in public/fill in the blank) can even imagine yet alone have to deal with as an actual part of our life.

Are you OK with complete strangers asking about your highlights? Your hair color? Your nose shape? Your weight? Your age? If the answer is not a whole-hearted YES then back off her sister!

B) ANDYET, while i stand behind my above comments I also can’t help applaude the women, some of whom you mentioned, that DO step up and say, “Guess what ladies, don’t beat yourself up, even I don’t look like this without help!”