Earlier this week we heard Jane Levees call out celebrities like Meg Ryan and Melanie Griffith for getting too much plastic surgery. Jane said “We all know who has and who hasn’t. There are some who look better than others, but you can tell at 50 paces.” Well Eurythmics singer and humanitarian Annie Lennox, 58, has some similar thoughts on the matter. In a post to her Facebook, she called plastic surgery “obvious” and warned people to carefully consider their options before going through with it.
I don’t know… There’s just something very obvious about plastic surgery and Botox. I really think people need to think very carefully before heading for the needle or the knife. If it were subtle and it just made you look a bit better it would be fine..But that’s not what happens. It’s very obvious, and looks like the person’s wearing a static mask. You just lose all semblance of authenticity. I don’t know why so many women seem to flock towards having their lips swollen and their foreheads stiffened like cardboard. It doesn’t make women look younger. It just makes them look disturbing. People should do whatever they want.. All I’m saying is that I think plastic surgery looks very obvious and truly unappealing.
It was very interesting to get so many responses to yesterday’s blog on the subject of plastic surgery. Interestingly it seems that most people find something disturbing about it. Good to note that everybody understood what I was saying. Thank you for that ! I’m totally in awe of the amazing ability to restructure a person’s face after they’ve been injured..That’s absolutely brilliant. It’s just the ubiquitous cosmetic procedures that seem to be fairly “normalised” that I’m putting into question, where people attempt to look decades younger and it clearly doesn’t work. Don’t people see how obviously weird it looks? Is it a kind of twisted sense of self image? It doesn’t make anyone look younger from my perspective.. It just makes you look freaky. Money can buy many things but nothing can buy youth… Why would you want to anyway?
There’s a new photo of Courteney Cox looking like she just got some fresh injections. Her lips are puffed out and it’s disturbing. I’m somewhat glad our photo agencies don’t have it, as it’s shocking and I just feel bad for her. You can see the photo here. Courteney, 49, has half-admitted that she does plastic surgery, saying she’s “very open to trying to prolong the inevitable” and that she’s used lasers to reduce brown spots. It’s clear she’s done a lot more than that, and that she’s gone overboard.
I don’t disagree with Lennox that people get too much Botox, lasers and surgery, but there’s plenty of decent facial work done, which just goes unnoticed. It’s just that we only see the bad work and the overdone faces. Take Susan Sarandon, 66, for example. She looks incredible and she’s admitted to a little eye and chin lipo. If Susan hadn’t owned up to that everyone would just think she’s genetically blessed. I think that there are plenty of Hollywood women who dabble in procedures at the dermatologist, we just don’t know that they’re not all natural because it looks decent. The outliers kind of spoil it for everyone.
There’s a thin line between getting something done and needing maintenance work that mucks it all up. Plastic surgery and injectibles scare me for that reason. You never know if you’re going to go too far until it’s too late. I think Courteney Cox has reached that point definitely.
Yes Cindy Crawford looks gorgeous still, but does she look like herself?
Marie Osmond, 53, is younger than Annie Lennox by five years.
She’s right. Eventually all recipients look alike.
I think it’s because we only know of the bad, obvious, over-done cases. There are subtle ways to do it and maintain – we dont discuss those cases bc we dont see the work – just them looking good – and they obviously would never publicly admit it.
To each his own. There are many good surgeons out there whose results dont look like one is wearing a plastic mask. Unfortunately alot of women over do it and this leads to the mannequin or suprised look also. Many surgeons who know a girl/woman shouldnt have surgery or more procedures (Kim Kardashian. Meg Ryan, etc) will do it for the money.
she’s right, it creates a hardness and hardness makes you look older
Nah, I disagree. I get Botox around the eyes, and last time I got just one syringe of filler. As i hit 36, my face lost some much volume, it was scary to me. I’ve always had a skinny face but it got really skinny. and i was getting creases around my eyes. i was scared getting botox the first time, but i loved the results. The best part was no even noticed. they just kept telling me i looked good, really rested and/or pretty.
i got filler the last time, i was scared with that too. but my dermatologist was so good with the botox, i decided just to try it. they say you can have some swelling or see where the needle went in. I guess I was lucky b/c i didn’t swell hardly at all. i actually went back in to work later that afternoon. i just had a couple red spots where the needle went in which i covered up. But i was told by my derm that you can swell up for a day or two. so i might just be lucky as far as that goes. but you cant always tell when someone has had good work done.
I love Annie Lennox, that is all..
Love her soooooo much AND she looks INCREDIBLE. Every so often I see older women who embody the same level of class that she does–and they always have the same element in common: they EMBRACE the aging process.
She is my inspiration re:aging gracefully.
I was about to say Annie looks great and I respect her opinion. She wasn’t being mean or nasty about; just warning people to think about it and be careful if you choose to go under the knife
When you’re naturally gorgeous and have great bone structure like Annie Lennox it’s easy to judge. If she suffered from droopy eyes, deep wrinkles etc she may be choosing a different path.
Yes! She is my all time favorite! Lovely lady and soooooooooooo talented.
She’s stunning, isn’t she?
Annie Lennox is beautiful and her voice is even more beautiful! I love her!!
The point is: you see these women looking good, but they have full professional makeup on. I’d like to see them without.
I’d kill to have 1/100 of Annie Lennox charisma, seriously.
She is amazing. Her music just never gets old!
Yes! Just put on Eurythmics.
Annie Lennox is genetically blessed. I love her beauty that includes the subtle signs of age and a long full life. Plastic surgery is a slippery slope.
I don’t think she is genetically blessed, I think she shows her age, maybe a bit younger fifty something woman and not a 60 years old, but she’s got so much talent and charisma no one really cares about.
She looks lovely in the top photo. I don’t think she’s ever been a great conventional beauty but she has aged naturally and well. She looks a damn lot better than Lindsay Lohan and Paz de la Huarta or whatever the Boardwalk empire chicks name is.
I think on looks alone she’s average. It’s her personality and charisma that makes her shine. If we replaced her personality with an ugly, hateful one she would look very physically ugly imo.
You have to feel comfortable in your own skin to appear as beautiful as her. Same with Tilda. Physically they’re not gorgeous, but the personality puts them over the top beautiful!
I think she is blessed in the looks department as well. I loathe plastic surgery too, but I think she needs to take into account that not everyone will age as well as she has, and that she’s not selling her look on camera as actresses must. I’m just saying that it’s easier to criticize something that you yourself don’t need. Still like her though – she seems like a class act.
It also should be said that she’s rocking SHORT, PLATINUM hair. How many women of her age can rock that hairstyle? It doesn’t even look harsh on her..her and Jamie Lee Curtis. Love them both.
OriginalKitten: I totally love that hair as well – she has killer facial structure. No extensions!! I’m more obsessed with the nasty extensions than the plastic surgery.
For some celebrities, they won’t know how they’ll age naturally because they’re getting it done so early. One tiny wrinkle and bam! they go full botox. At 20, 25 or 30.
Brava!
My sentiments, exactly. They all end up looking like Madame from the Muppets. For me it’s the eye/lip/cheek trio of work that makes people look just so creepy. I’ve never ever seen good lip work. Ever.
And so much can be done these days with lasers, RF, IPL, peels, dermaneedling – all things that improve what you’re working with but don’t distort yourself.
For years I have seen Joan Rivers and thought of Madame.
I see the puppet from “Saw” when I look at Joan Rivers.
Yes, exactly! Ironically, plastic surgery does not age well.
Now that girls are starting in their 20s what will become of their faces at age 45? Will they be Joan Rivers by age 50?
Well said, Annie.
And look how vibrant and lively and bubbling with personality Annie looks, as opposed to the wrinkle-free but dead-inside expression of plastic surgery victims.
lol @ plastic surgery victims
Exactly!
At a certain point all that ‘tweaking’ does indeed start to get that signature look, as in they all start looking alike.
You can only inject so much until it becomes unnatural. Then the rest of your body still looks old.
I, personally, think Annie Lennox looks marvelous and comfortable with herself which is the most attractive quality one can have.
Nothing worse than a super tight face on a wrinkly neck/body.
“It doesn’t make women look younger. It just makes them look disturbing.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HA! says the eternally youthful diva that hasn’t aged since ‘Sweet Dreams’ some 30-odd years ago. Lol 😉
She’s got wrinkles, and overhangy eyelids and grey hair, and receeding gum lines. You just don’t notice because she looks freakin’ normal. She’s beautiful.
I think RHONYC was intentionally exaggerating a little to be complimentary
@ KB
exactly, thanx. 🙂
@ BW
“receeding gum lines”
gasp! *clutching pearls*
you gets No More I Love Yous for that one! 😆
Yes, yes, I know. I was exaggerating, too, just in the opposite direction. (We need a universal sarcasm font.)
Truth is, I didn’t know she was 58. Holy cow! She looks fantastic. And nothing takes 10 years off your age like a megawatt smile!!!
ahhh, touché Madam or Monsieur BW. good one.
haha 😀
I’m 46-and I wish I could have my 35 year old face forever, but that’s not going to happen. I do feel a lot of sympathy for these actresses/models whose identity is wrapped up in their physical appearance. But Annie Lennox is so right-the procedures just make you look weird. I also think when all the women around you (hello SoCal) have that same look it must also be difficult to realize how bizarro it is.
I feel what you’re saying.
I am not totally against plastic surgery.
But the point of it should be: make you look the best 50 years old you can be; otherwise is going to be a mess.
The mother of a friend of mine opted for a small lift at 50. Her face still has lines and wrinkles. No one could tell she’s had a work done, but she is better looking, refreshed.
I go back and forth-have a little something done to “refresh” (slippery slope?) or embrace the age-ing me (so much easier to say when it’s not your wrinkly face looking at you in the mirror)? And really, it’s not even the wrinkles-it’s the whole idea that I am actually middle aged-that’s what I’m struggling with. And I suspect it’s the same with these women too.
Yes, I don’t understand why people are always judging the celebrities who have plastic surgery/botox. Shouldn’t we, first, look at the whole context? Like this crazy industry where women over 40 are considered “too old”. That’s what we should be judging, not the women who know that in order to keep getting interesting roles have to resort to plastic surgery.
Besides, don’t we all have insecurities about our body and face? Look, I’m all for loving yourself, accepting who you are with your flaws, but it’s easy to say that when you’re young or when you have good genes. Some people aren’t that confident about themselves and some age very badly.
Basically, plastic surgery, when it’s subtle, can be great I think, because you don’t like 30 years younger, you just look the best of your age.
I hate the duck lips and “surprized eyebrows” look.
I think when young women get surgery they actually end up looking older (Kim K for example).
Yes! People with naturally big lips can move them – these people look like they’re wearing those wax lips, lol! I was just watching RHOC last night – three women were “talking” to each other and none of them could move their lips at all – so bizarre!
Yup. Duck lips and surprised eyebrows combined with a mask-like face. Lainey Gossip refers to it as “LA Face”, but we have it here in Atlanta too.
Has anyone else noticed how overly-botoxed women will severely emphasize their vocal inflections? I imagine it’s because they are trying to compensate for the utterly frozen face.
It’s really off-putting talking to a face that doesn’t move, but the voice coming out of it is overly expressive, swooping up and down, making all sorts of exclamations. Creepy.
Yes, actually, I have noticed that. It’s annoying and off-putting.
I think that more women need to think about how having a mask-like face interferes with the way other people relate to them.
Surgeon General’s warning: even small amounts of Botox will subtly muffle your facial expressions, causing other people to have difficulty understanding your meaning. You will notice an increase in miscommunication with those around you. Efforts to compensate through exaggerated vocal inflections can be off-putting to others, as they may mistake your efforts for condescension.
I know it sounds silly, but I don’t think that I am wrong.
@jennj
That hasn’t happened to me. and i botox and get filler. moderation is the key, i think.
Kim still looks good when she’s not wearing all of that makeup, but I agree that she would’ve been better off without plastic surgery.
Sharon stone and merryl Streep are other examples of subtle work. I totally agree with Annie though.
Yup on both! Guess you can look normal if you have the right work. Wish we could all age without the pressure to look young – that’s gotta be a huge downside to hollywood – way too much focus on looks, not enough on everything else that makes you a person.
And Helen Mirren
…” most people find something disturbing about it”…
But still:…”so many women seem to flock towards having their lips swollen and their foreheads stiffened “…
So I guess these women find it disturbing in anybody else but not in themselves.
Body dismorphia, probably. Just like how severely anorexic people can look at themselves, and still see areas they “need” to slim down.
Well goddamn Annie Lennox, not everyone ages like you. Jesus she looks great.
I think of plastic surgery sort of like makeup. You gotta take in the full picture. Sometimes i spend a lot of time on my brows, filling them in and such, and it looks great, until I take a step back and realize I’d done a full groucho marx. people get so focused on filling in lines, pumping stuff up, they don’t realize taken all together it won’t look nice. Having a line-free face isn’t automatically the best way to go.
Considering females in their twenties have smile lines, it’s bizarre to see these forty and fifty somethings overfill their face to the point when they smile, without a natural line for the skin to go, it contorts the face and bunches out above where the smile line should be. It’s odd and I can’t explain it. I saw it with Joan Rivers one time, Brandi once when her face was way overfilled for her book interview. I watched that girl on RHOM, the young one, who has massive lips and botox, etc., start crying and it was disturbing it looked like a mask, like when Kim K cries. They can’t cry in a natural way because of the lips and botox and filler, and the face contorts oddly and makes them look awful.
The worst was Pricilla Presley when she ruined her face and she and Lisa Marie were sitting together on Oprah, and her own daughter had more lines than she did and actual smile lines. And Lisa Marie was probably just early thirties at the time.
Freaky.
yes, i have noticed that on some women. it’s overdoing it. no one’s even noticed that i had botox or filler done. they just say i’m looking good! : )
Love me some Annie! She rocks!
Couldn’t agree with her more!
You see those hideous plastic melty faces and you have to ask
WHYYYYYYYY (sung like her awesome song Why! I have always loved that song so much.)
Even good work is noticeable if it’s recent. The smarter actresses stay far away from cameras for a few months after having a little eye work or fillers done, to let everything settle, and they often come back with a slightly new look (eg. a new hairstyle or a slimmed down frame) so as to explain away any differences.
I said in the Jane Leeves post that Courtney Cox was *this close* to hitting Meg Ryan levels of freakishness, and with this latest work she’s well and truly there. So sad as she really was a beautiful woman.
Annie’s beautiful, and she looks a lot younger than her years precisely because she hasn’t filled her face with crap. Courtney Cox looks significantly older than her years because it’s hard not to associate that much plastic surgery with decaying Norma Desmond types, not 40-something year old women.
So true. Annie Lennox is a smart and talented woman, I’m glad she’s not wearing a wax mask.
Agreed that people go off the rails with too many fillers and too much Botox, and it looks weird (Courtney Cox is a perfect example. However, if you are able to show some restraint, it can really be helpful. I get Botox between my eye brow because I get the nasty line that makes you look mad all the time. I get enough just to soften it up and I am very happy with he results. I also got it around my eyes, and it virtually did nothing. Derm said he could inject more, and I said no thanks.
My sister had that some look and she loved Botox. It definitely softened that mean, frowny look line or crease.
Joy Behar uses Botox in some areas and loves it and she moves her face fine. However she does it and where, it definitely gave her a more refreshed look compared to her before photos. ANd she didn’t fall into the more is better category where they lose sight of what they start looking like.
Yeah, Annie is correct as is Jane L- saw this picture yesterday of Courtney and I REALLY see the bride of Wildenstein thing going on here:
http://www.fishwrapper.com/post/2013/07/09/courteney-cox-plastic-surgery-looking-bad-photos-cougar-town-directing/
Oh my god, that is just so sad.
If Courtney had only done nothing, she’d still be so beautiful.
I agree with her and I think that she and Jamie Lee Curtis look great. But they are the exception to the rule. I thnk little things are fine once you are over a certain age, but these girls who start messing with everything in their twenties and thirties are just wrong.
Case in point – Brandi Glanville. I couldn’t believe how young she looked for her age when starting RHOBH. Now she looks her age and more plasticized with too much filler, botox, etc.
LeAnn – odd stuff going on these days, but it looks like the filler might be going down.
Case in point – Madonna and her big fat cheek implants. (sobbing quietly).
Case in point – Lara Flynn Boyle – who was so pretty and now … I can’t go there and say what I think. It’s so mean.
Case in point – Nicole Kidman – who was stunning – and for quite a few years blew her lips up to trout pout status and no forehead movement and sometimes odd filler. (It broke my heart. I adored her.) Glad to see her looking more like herself again.
The list goes on and on.
Amen, Annie Lennox!
Love love LOVE Annie. She’s absolutely stunning. She has the right idea about plastic surgery, too. It looks so weird the majority of the time, especially when young women get fillers!
Hope I have even a thimbleful of this lady’s coolness when I reach my sixties.
Love the women who say, aging: better than the alternative and don’t try to turn themselves into permanent 25 year olds.
Cindy Crawford ruined her face with her eye-job. She looks at minimum 15-20 years OLDER since she did it. I am I think a year or two younger than her and would never, ever do something like that to my face. Sure, I get botox once or twice a year, but that is it. At this point, I think I look prettier than Cindy. And I have never been a supermodel contender.
Good thing is, all of these bad plastic surgeries by celebrities have me sworn off of doing anything invasive like what they have had done. I will age with a bit of botox and no sun. At some point, it’s pointless to fight it. We all get old and wrinkly. Doing so gracefully is always the best route. No one is fooling anyone with these surgeries.
Annie had work done as a young woman – look back at pictures when she was in The Tourists!
She still looks great for her age and she is a true rock star and great human being!!!
Why are so many people okay with injecting poisons in to their bodies. What’s the point in looking younger if you are risking your health in other ways.
I’m very anti any cosmetic procedures. There is too much focus on beauty and youth these days. We need to go back to respecting people for their wisdom, kindness, intelligence, spirit.
Seriously. This stuff can kill you. Vanity is not worth dying for.
Ok those pictures of courtenex Cox have to be fake because JJ has photo of her on the same day and she looks nothing like the photo at the link above.
http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2906558/brian-von-holt-on-courtenex-cox-shes-phenomenal-04/
And on a different note; why does her shirt say “HIV Positive”? Is she?
People just need to learn that growing old is okay. You had your “time” as a young person – you can’t live it forever, no matter how hard you try. Embrace your age – whatever it is. Besides, for those that do all the work on their face, your neck and hands give you away.
Annie Lennox – beautiful.
As I said in another thread, I’m rather shocked at that picture of Courtney Cox. She looks truly disturbing. I don’t know how these people manage it, actually.
I always wondered – how does a children react to their mother coming home with such an altered, uber-botoxed face? I’m sure it must be somewhat upsetting. I remember when our French teacher walked in after having her lips done – we couldn’t stop staring at her, it was so weird! I spent most of my French classes avoiding eye-contact with her. I can only imagine what it would be like to have your mother looking like that.
I always wonder about that! Especially women like Nicole Kidman with really small children. How do they think their kids interpret this?! And when her face is so puffy it looks like it would be painful to be kissing and snuggling with her babies.
the botox doesn’t kick in totally immediately. it took about a week before i saw noticeable difference. it just gradually softens the lines, in my experience, anyway.
and when i got filler, i was lucky, i didn’t swell up very much. i work in sales and i just had a couple red spots where the needle had gone in. so i covered them with makeup and went into work later that day, working with the public. but i think some women do swell up from from what my derm told me. but you know, nicole’s gone overboard. it’s too much. oh and i was told after she massaged the areas she injected, to not rub my face the rest of the day so it would stay in place. i did lightly touch my cheekbones and didn’t really notice any freaky difference, just a little softer but it looked normal. the next day when i touched my face in those areas, it felt like it had hardened, now it just feels like regular bone. so it’s not painful but you dont want to touch your face a whole bunch the first day imo.
Annie looks just as disturbing as the other ladies.. wtf is with her eyes..
That’s what you look like when 50 people are using flash cameras in your face and you’re trying to smile for 2 minutes straight.
I found Susan Sarandon’s work blatantly obvious even before she admitted to it, and I think it messed up her face big time.
I love Annie Lennox.
She looks great! And poor Courtney Cox looks awful. Why is she doing that to herself? I still watch and love Cougar Town but her face over the past two seasons has just been tragic – and if that picture is any indication it’s going to be beyond absurd this coming year.
Funny. I’ve often used Susan Sarandon as an example of good plastic surgery. There are some women who just get enough to look, what I call, “refreshed.”
It’s when they use the fillers and their faces freeze when things go awry. And as others have said, who knows what toxins are in that stuff?
Not all plastic surgeons are created equal. There are some masterful people out there who understand “understated” and won’t make you look like someone has a string they pulled at the top of your head.
Annie looks better than any of the women pictured below her.
Annie Lennox looks amazing. Good for her! 🙂
Well Halle Berry had plastic surgery and looks much better than she in Miss Ohio pageant
She’s spot on. Now about Juvederm….hmmm…I’m curious.
True. I’d rather look like a natural 43 year old than a deformed 33 year old.
What ever happened to growing old gracefully? I totally agree with her.
love her and she’s still gorgeous
Annie Lennox you are going on my inspiration wall. What a beautiful example of an un-toxed and un-tampered with woman. Stunning!
THANK YOU!!
Plastic surgery = old!!
I live in SoCal. Whenever I see a woman with “the look” I reflexively think she’s at least 70. Hey, back in the day obese people were automatically assumed to be rich. It’s what you’re used to.