Melissa Gilbert Finally allowing myself to age naturally was one of the best decisions I ever made
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
There's this constant message, everywhere you go, on how to improve your looks through medical interventions. The message is so ubiquitous — just drive any significant long distance, and, if you look at the billboards, even in a small town, in between advertisements for McDonald's, Taco Bell and Cracker Barrel, it's "Lipo," "freeze the fat" and "Not happy with your breasts? Call Dr. So-and-so."
Women especially get these really messed up mixed messages, and the people to whom younger generation are looking up are giving them these absolutely unattainable expectations. You cannot look like Kim Kardashian unless you spend $30,000 a month.
I realize that getting plastic surgery is nothing new — in my family growing up, it was just a given that everybody got a nose job, and there was not even a discussion — but now women (and this extends beyond Hollywood) are pumping their lips up, beyond what they looked like in the first place, getting these giant cheek bones, giving themselves squinty eyes, and getting their noses done. That aesthetic just looks freakish to me. And, for the women who do it to look younger, they end up looking different than they ever looked before.
I do believe that it's a personal decision, and it's up to every individual to make that decision for themselves. But my hope is that, if people are going to do what makes them feel confident and happy, that they find a way to do that without having a massive surgery.
Take breast implants, for example: I had them for years. The doctors don't emphasize that all implants, whether they're saline or silicone, have a shelf life and need to be replaced really every 10 to 15 years. So that means you're signing up for surgery every 10 or 15 years. And what you don't realize at the moment that you get them — or at least what I didn't — is that you only get so many times under anesthesia. So as I got older, and I began to worry what would happen if I needed a hip replacement or a heart valve, let alone the surgical risk of having my breast implants replaced when I'm frail and feeble.
I was actually on my third set of breast implants when I first met my husband, Tim: I'd had the first set replaced after 15 years, and then I had a little problem with the second set, so I'd had to have them re-done. I was having neck issues, I was facing another spinal surgery, I was uncomfortable and I didn't want them to be in my body anymore. I didn't want to have to keep going through it all, and I expressed that to him when we were first dating, and he said, "Well, get 'em out."
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Is plastic surgery just a personal decision, or one that women feel forced into?
I think that pervasive societal pressure about body image is much greater for women than for men, and I applaud Gilbert for eventually coming to terms with her body and her self-image.
My ex had expressed interest in getting implants at one point but I'm glad she didn't because the risk of nerve damage and loss of sensitivity is significant, and in her case that would have been a tragedy.
Yes
I think it probably depends a lot on where you live and what you do. I imagine most actresses, for example, would feel much more pressure to look a certain way to enhance their careers than those of us whose careers don't depend as much on our looks.
There is money to be made by making people feel uncomfortable about themselves.
Just sign on the dotted line, and buy the miracle product or service.
In the alternative find things about yourself, qualities that extend beyond looks, things which endure.
Feel good about them and yourself.
Do things for others which help.
Then step back to see what you did.
Feel good about that.
Let the cottage industries of manipulating you be fed by others.
Be yourself.
Who better?
Peace and Abundant Blessings Always.
Enoch.
I would like to address the breast implant part of cosmetic surgery. I think women get the wrong idea about breast size, and believe that almost all men like enormous breasts, the bigger the better. While men will often mention and talk about huge breasts, not all of us are in the 'bigger is better' camp. "Look at THOSE knockers" is a comment that men often make about big-uns, and all of us will acknowledge the huge breasts and voice approval, even when we don't find them particularly attractive. It's kind of a male bonding thing. There are many men, like me, who are in the 'any more than a handful is a waste' camp. I DO have big hands mind you...Just thought I'd throw that in there!
The older I got the more comfortable I felt in my own skin. I can see having corrective surgery for ears, noses, etc, but just to look younger...no thanks.
I have no idea why any woman wants to carry around big boobs everyday. If a man wants you to have big boobs, tell him to try it for a few days.
I'm a natural beauty so I don't need plastic surgery.
Stop laughing
I heard you're pretty hot!
Especially when I'm having a hot flash!
I feel ya on that.... these days I am never cold. I am a walking furnace.
It's funny that most of the discussion has been about breasts.
Nothing about things like facelifts. Keeping ones youthful look.
I recently saw a pic of Christie Brinkley and though she says she is a "natural" I say no way. She has not aged one day.
Is it good to look in the mirror and see the face you had when you were young? If this is the path you are going to take, I think it should be for yourself and not for anyone else.
Here is a larger version of the image associated with the seed
Melissa Gilbert was 53 when that photo was taken, she is 54 today.
I think most people would agree that in the photo she is an attractive woman. As befits an actress or professional woman, she is expertly made up, has stylish hair, and a youthful looking outfit on. She looks good.
My point is - how relevant are her circumstances to the average woman who may be OLDER than her? In today's society 54 is still considered relatively 'young'. Will she have the same love of "aging naturally" when she is 64?
People should do what they want with their looks. If they come out looking silly someone will let them know.
Gilbert is still an actress by the way, although she also tried her hand at politics.
I agree with you John about Ms. Gilbert. She still looks good for her age. Not everyone ages at the same rate. That is in the genes.
And I also don't think that plastic surgery is bad if one wants to remain youthful, but as I said before, you should do it for yourself, not anyone else.
And you don't want to come out looking like Melony Griffith.
Or Mickey Rourke:
Mickey R before and after
Yowsa!!!!
Priscilla Presley - she was a gorgeous woman, and ageless, until silicon injections in her face ruined her looks.