comment #1

Rich S. says ...

I was recently struck by the appearance of Christa Miller, who used to play one of Drew Carey's sidekicks. She now appears on Scrubs. She used to be very cute, in a "girl next door" sort of way. But something went drastically wrong. They actually wrote it into the storyline in Scrubs, which I thought was simultaneously brave and cruel (since her husband is the creator and executive produce of the show).

comment #2

le corbeau says ...

Why do celebs with money to burn continue to willfully disfigure themselves and risk worldwide embarassment due to inelegant or woefully miscalculated plastic surgery?

Hmm, what could possibly be the widespread attitude that leads people to do this sort of thing to themselves...

Adams is 33, and has the smile wrinkles to prove it. She's being called a semi-new discovery whose career has been launched by Enchanted, etc., but the hard fact is that things begin to dry out for most actresses when they hit 40 or so. Hooray for Adams and her big score, but she has about six or seven years to make the most of her good fortune. I'm just saying...

One thing you see if you only visit LA from reality once in a while is that LA-liens have a MUCH higher threshhold for the weirdnesses that plastic surgery produces than people in the rest of the country. Sure, you see women who've had lifts and pulls and this and that, but it's very rare to see the full Clive Barker horrors that you see tottering around on high heels with collagen-projectile lips and grapefruit boobs all over LA.

So the answer to the question is, why do they put up with disfigurement like that? Because it looks normal to them.

comment #3

York "Budd" Durden says ...

An astute assessment, Mgmax. It's all about the context.

comment #4

Rob says ...

Do none of these women pay attention to the fact that, once you hit a certain age, it's the Patricia Clarksons of the world - you know, the ones with a wrinkle or two - who get the jobs?

Michelle Pfeiffer looks great and all, but her big
"comeback" this year was two villainous supporting roles after 5 years of no work.

comment #5

Wrecktum says ...

"One thing you see if you only visit LA from reality once in a while is that LA-liens have a MUCH higher threshhold for the weirdnesses that plastic surgery produces than people in the rest of the country. Sure, you see women who've had lifts and pulls and this and that, but it's very rare to see the full Clive Barker horrors that you see tottering around on high heels with collagen-projectile lips and grapefruit boobs all over LA."

Said by someone who has never ventured south of Melrose or east of Highland.

comment #6

Wrecktum says ...

...in other words, there are 13 million people in the L.A. area. Your description ("the full Clive Barker horrors that you see tottering around on high heels with collagen-projectile lips and grapefruit boobs") describes maybe .00001% of the population.

comment #7

le corbeau says ...

Wow, I hit a nerve with Wrecktum. Really, you can come to Chicago and make fun of rude WASPy North Shore types, I won't mind.

As for never having been east of Highland etc., allow me to recommend the fish tacos at the Grand Central Market and the roasted duck at New Concept in Monterey Park. But don't bother with the tasting menu at YongSuSan, it's basically just larger quantities of the same panchan you get all over Koreatown.

comment #8

DavidF says ...

I'm assuming that's Lara Flynn Boyle's head in the graphic.
I was recently watching Twin Peaks and, yeah, that girl had potential.

I dunno what/who convinced her she needed to mess herself up so terribly (including losing weight) before even hitting 40.

I'm still scarred by the first time I saw a post-surgery Melanie Griffith which should have been enough to scare Meg Ryan. But nope, they keep doing it over and over as if we're too stupid to tell.

And yet, as a white male, I cannot help but feel it's somehow all my fault (sniffle).

comment #9

Deschain says ...

DavidF: these are Demi Moore and Jessica Simpson.

Oh my gawd why do I know that? Too much dlisted.com I guess

comment #10

Dave says ...

"Because it looks normal to them."

Bingo.

No one should ever, ever get plastic surgery on their face. Their body? Maybe, if they want to. But the face is a complete piece, it *is* who you are, and the moment you mess with it, it all goes south.

Seriously, the moment I see a woman who has done work on her face, she goes down in my eyes, big time. It's like, 1. You weren't bad looking BEFORE that, and 2. You're so damn vain you actually care more about what you look like than who you are.

I've lost track of all the Hollywood actresses that I found pretty, even beautiful, just the way they were, but who have now ruined themselves. Just one example-- I still remember being shocked and appalled a couple years back when turning on Las Vegas, I saw what Nikki Cox had done to her face. She was never conventionally "gorgeous," but she was a pretty girl. Now. . . ugh.

Anyway, if we want to talk bad plastic surgery, here are my two favorite recent postings about that:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=499391&in_page_id=1773

http://celebritycosmeticsurgery.blogspot.com/2007/09/evolution-of-carrot-top.html

comment #11

Wrecktum says ...

"As for never having been east of Highland etc., allow me to recommend the fish tacos at the Grand Central Market."

I prefer the tortas.

You definitely don't need my help to wail on the pasty slags in Chicago. They pretty much sell themselves.

comment #12

Doug Pratt says ...

On the other hand, Sonia Braga chose to age gracefully and fell completely off the radar in a flash, trimming her career by at least a decade.

comment #13

Zimmergirl says ...

It's a very sad mostly American phenom because here youth and beauty are valued above all other things where women are concerned. Men get it badly too - Robert Redford and Peter O'Toole - can't even look at them anymore. It's very sad when someone like Meg Ryan, who didn't even need it in the first place, did it. I wish they would all age gracefully - if not for themselves for all of our daughters who must grow up and old one day.

comment #14

cbuckie says ...

Good link Deschain http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=499391&in_page_id=1773 Joan Van Ark My god this is scarier than Heath Ledger as the Joker Cbuckie

comment #15

VedaPierce says ...

As Demi Moore, Nicole Kidman, and Meg Ryan turn themselves into science projects, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, and Meryl Streep continue to get all the best parts.

comment #16

insidah says ...

I actually think the excess of plastic surgery is morally wrong on some level. I look at Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman and Meg Ryan and see a sort of banal, smoothed down evil to their faces. They are basically walking lies again human nature.

comment #17

le corbeau says ...

But let's talk about the biggest plastic surgery/obsessive dieting tragedy of all time...

From this: http://tinyurl.com/2czlq6
to this: http://tinyurl.com/ytagtx

comment #18

Terry McCarty says ...

Jackie Zeman of GENERAL HOSPITAL is probably one of the poster children for the kind of Botox or facial surgery that manages to reduce acting ability by immobilizing most of the face.

comment #19

le corbeau says ...

As were Richard Barthelmess and Clive Brook, back in the day. It pretty much ended Barthelmess' career, since all he could do was glower. Brook kept going but no longer played light comic roles, only dramatic ones. Sad.

comment #20

Fred Mounts says ...

Mgmax, tragedy is the right word for it. Yikes!