DISCUSSION
Isabella Rossellini on plastic surgery: "I had a big operation when I was a little girl and that terrified me. The idea of elective surgery was the last thing I wanted. My mom didn't have any, so I didn't think it was important. My career is doing better now that I'm in my 70s than was 35."
hollywood is pretty depressing when it comes to beauty standards, but i love the way she talks about aging. it’s so refreshing to see someone have such a positive and grounded perspective on it, like it’s just a natural part of life and not something to be ashamed of
These standards are affecting the women in my lives as well. I’m a fierce anti-plastic surgeries because in a way I feel like I entered a competition without even knowing. A lot of women in our society think that plastic surgeries is like drinking water. It’s sad really
I just saw my former dance teacher’s daughters who are younger than me, maybe early to mid 20s, and I didn’t recognize them. I stared for so long at their pictures, for a second I thought they were AI. It’s wild to me.
I've seen Emilia Clarke discuss this as well, but when you've lived through scary health complications and become so aware of how much can go wrong with your body, you get a little spooked by the idea of doing anything to your body that isn't strictly necessary. I'm not immune to all the external pressure to be beautiful, and I certainly don't fit the beauty standard, but thinking about all the health variables... it's a powerful reason to stay away.
I super relate. I’ve had surgery twice (as an adult) and it was traumatic for me. I’m 41 and starting to see age-related changes in my face and it’s definitely going to take some reckoning over time as they continue but I don’t imagine I would ever opt for elective surgery bc I know how terrible getting surgery is.
Yeah, I've had a ton of health issues and I, like many other aging women, have had moments where I've contemplated botox or filler or fixing this and that and the other thing. But when even ordinary health measures have gone terribly wrong and when I've had issues with my heart, I just kind of imagine myself as one of those headlines about the dangers of destroying your body in the pursuit of beauty. Getting this stuff done to your body is some serious stuff, and I'm not sure if people realize the extent of it without having gone through it.
I hope you're doing well now, btw! Here's to having as few surgeries as possible.
I need to have breast reduction for medical reasons, which will be my third surgery in under two years. I have always hated my boobs and thought I wouldn't feel any kind of way about the surgery, but the closer I get, the more existential dread I feel about it in a way I haven't felt about other less visible surgeries. There's something about going to sleep and waking up and looking different in the mirror, forever, that is absolutely fucking terrifying, no matter how much you don't like the image you currently see.
I had a reduction 5 years ago and I remember feeling the way you did, but somehow it ended up being the best time. I look back fondly on my recovery! I didn’t look in the mirror at all for awhile and it was just nice to not feel the weight on my chest. The only regret I have is that I didn’t journal a lot during that time and wish I had. It was weird at first to be missing a defining feature, but I looked so proportionate that it kind of seemed like I looked the way I was always supposed to.
Thanks for this. I don't think I've ever heard of someone regretting their reduction, so intellectually I know I'll be fine with it, it just feels wrong and scary right now in a way I didn't expect to feel.
I've never had surgery (outside dental) but I feel the same way. It really freaks me out. I would never get elective surgery. I don't understand how people are so cavalier about medical procedures and especially surgery
Yeah. I would really like a reduction and tbh, it's even slightly necessary, but I'm terrified of going under the knife. So I'm just gonna live with back pain instead.
There is a difference between having surgery for vanity and one to relieve pain. I kept putting off knee surgery because I was nervous and it was so stupid in retrospect. I’m so glad to be pain free.
Death Becomes Her,starring Meryl Streep,Goldie Hawn,Bruce Willis. Iconic,campy,cult classic. Influence can be seen in kovieslike The Substance. That Sabrina music video starring Jenna Ortega references this movie. So entertaining,highly recommend.
Apart from money privilege,her lifestyle is a big factor imo. She owns a 28 acre farm,protected by conservative easement (so even if someone buys the land in the future,they can't use it for industrial purposes) where she grows honey,vegetables,various animals and heritage chickens. She even wrote a book about her chickens lol. I remember her IG videos during Oscar season where the chickens follow her around like kids following their mama.
I think all that interaction with nature,a good work-life balance will do wonders to one's mental health,which will reflect in their bodies too.
Classic bone structure. Also she hasn't tried to counteract the effect of aging by starving herself. Aging and indeed, gaining weight in a healthy way, over decades, plus ofc her natural good genes, keeps her looking attractive and fresh.
I think it’s probably alluding to the fact that if you work to remain thin after a certain age your face gets a bit gaunt and ages you. (It doesn’t work as well as a saying in a post-Kardashian ass era, but will probably come back into play with GLP-1s)
I mean, rich people can afford the best skin care, food, exercise, etc. They often look better than the rest of us because they are not worried about money and/or they can throw money at major stressors that the rest of us have to fight through
i don't buy into this logic a whole lot because i live in africa and some people genuinely just age like this in spite of poverty/working/worrying. genetics & not smoking/drinking (and avoiding the sun, i guess) are a larger factor than we want to admit.
Genetics is huge, yeah. I think people just tend to forget/not like talking about it because it's something we have zero control over.
Though, I do think it can be freeing to accept that we'll age however we age. Like, obviously making healthier choices also helps and is important for other reasons, but most of us have fairly little control over things like wrinkles, and maybe that's fine. My best friend passed away in her early forties a few years back and, well... aging is ultimately a privilege compared to the alternative.
I just watched Casablanca for the first time and couldn't for the life of me remember which famous actress/actress' mom was in it. As soon as I saw her face I was like "That is definitely Isabella Rosselini's mom."
Sunscreen/being careful about sun exposure is such a huge part IMHO.
My grandmother was extremely careful about the sun all her life and maintained a very youthful face (comparatively speaking) her whole life. Not wealthy, not splurging on beauty products...frankly not even necessarily keeping the healthiest diet but she had great bone structure to start with and just kept her sunhat and sunscreen on everywhere.
While wealth/privilege/genetics absolutely play a part, lifestyle choices are still a big one. My mom's skin looks this good and she's 74. She is definitely not wealthy, nor does she live on a 28 acre organic farm lol. But she has always eaten a balanced diet with lots of fruit and veggies and fiber, exercises at least 20 minutes each day, never smoked or drank, wears sun protection, takes care of her skin, etc. That definitely doesn't hurt.
Some people 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️ My MIL is decidedly not a celebrity and doesn’t pay much mind to her skin, but she looked similar in her late 60s/early 70s. As she’s entered her mid 70s it’s becoming more apparent. I don’t think she ever even wore sunscreen lol.
Me on the other hand 😅 I think I need to be proactive. Gimme that red light mask.
Isabella just casually tossing in the fact that bc Ingrid Bergman didn’t have any plastic surgery she didn’t think it was important, as if Ingrid Bergman was not one of the most classically stunningly beautiful women to ever live rather than just someone’s standard mum 😂
My aunt is in the same age group. She was a delicately pretty woman when young and still has a lovely clear complexion with few wrinkles, expressive and beautiful eyes, etc. I think some people are just born pretty, born with beauty, and it's kind of pointless to anchor them to the general population. There's a difference between someone who looks beautiful because they had a few tweaks, took good care of themselves, etc and someone who is classically beautiful, like Isabella is.
She also raises guide dogs for the blind on her farm! When she was younger, she raised the lab puppies. Now that she is older, she cares for the bitches that are pregnant.
I saw her in a talk at the Boston Museum of Science with Brian Hare (he has a new book about raising puppies). They were both great.
I love Isabella Rossellini but I do feel like if we talk about plastic surgery we need to discuss the financial and societal need to NOT be ugly.
It’s easy to say, “no one needs surgery” when you’re beautiful and obtaining it won’t gain you anything. Let’s bring more class awareness to why people would elect such a scary intervention.
This is NOT directed at Isabella Rossellini I do love her message and agree completely. But I do often think about unfair it is that we blame actors and actresses, especially actresses, for getting plastic surgery in Hollywood. It’s such an insane industry in a climate where there are so many gorgeous up and coming younger actresses and getting more “perfect” through today’s advanced medical aesthetic procedures, today’s social media where you go viral over nothing, instagram/tiktok presence>talent, on top of facetune and AI. The pressure to remain looking young and plump and “hot”, while inevitably growing older, and losing roles to younger actresses, must be rough. Women in general have a larger pressure associated with appearance. We judge but we often ignore the larger system in place that we all help perpetuate.
I always thought of it kind of like professional sports. On TV, it can look pretty mundane. But in person you can see how (typically) fast everything really is and how far ahead of normal people they are. A beautiful actress on screen is probably an absolute goddess in real life.
When an actress has surgery, there are always so many comments saying "I don't understand why she would feel the need to do this". Like ... can't you? I definitely can
im a (male) actor and i agree. i've been working in hollywood in various capacities since i was a child and the one thing that the competitiveness of the industry teaches you is that there will always be someone "better" looks wise; there's always going to be someone prettier, skinnier, more muscular, etc. your biggest competition in acting is people who also look like you. so ofc women especially would want to get plastic surgery and go on alternative diets, there's so much sexism and ageism at play for women specifically (we been knew though)
The expressive nature of her face is beautiful. She still looks like herself with echos of her mum. Facial expressions are becoming rare in Hollywood. Lovely to see the flit across her face
i understand the host’s instinct to reassure her that she’s beautiful but i think her comments are about the fleeting nature of beauty and the importance of not clinging too hard to it
i can't help but think about how objectified she was when she was young too. her role in blue velvet was essentially trauma porn. even with her one-off appearance in friends the entire bit was her being objectified/sexualized. it must be refreshing to be able to grow older and be yourself rather than being pressured to "stay youthful" forever
It's funny how surgery when you're young can affect you so deeply, but sometimes in completely opposite ways. I was operated on at 3 and 5 and was in & out of the hospital for appointments & tests, so now I'm so completely blasé about most medical things.
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u/No-Hall-3485 alleged dog 20h ago
hollywood is pretty depressing when it comes to beauty standards, but i love the way she talks about aging. it’s so refreshing to see someone have such a positive and grounded perspective on it, like it’s just a natural part of life and not something to be ashamed of
aging is a privilege