Courtney Cox, Jennifer Anniston, Anna Bligh…..this week Kylie joins the plethora of famous women who have admitted to having their faces jabbed with botulism toxin. I’m tempted to go get Botox just so I can make a confession about it. KIDDING.
You know, I had a realisation a few weeks ago that I’ve totally painted myself into a corner with my bitching about Botox. If I went and had it now, I would feel like a total hypocrite (although that hasn’t stopped me from doing a u-turn about various things in the past….). Maybe painting myself into a corner on this issue is a good way of making sure I don’t cave into my own vanity. Help me out, people.
Hey, I have no problem with anyone getting Botox (although on some level I am disturbed about the idea of women erasing their facial expressions to look Stepford Wife-like. Don’t we need our angry faces, ladies? I certainly do).
ANYWAY. Botox is a decision for an individual to make for herself. Or (ugh) himself.
Which brings me back to Kylie who has MOST DEFINITELY had Botox and many, many other procedures on her face. She’s never denied any of that which is why I think she doesn’t inspire the same kind of anger a certain other sunscreen-loving Australian icon does….
In this month’s UK Elle, Kylie reveals:
‘You shouldn’t do this.’ Everyone individually can do what they want. I
also think it doesn’t have the stigma that it had when I was growing
up… For all time women have wanted to, for the most part, look their
best. It’s just that what we have available to us today is – what it is
today. And if you want to take advantage of it, yeah. I’m preferring to
be a lot more… natural these days. I’ve tried Botox, I’ve tried all…”
(all what, we will never know!).
[source: GWAS]
After the jump, all the pix from the shoot:
Top Comments
What is so hard about just accepting what life gives you and growing old gracefully. Why take a chance on a injection that may ultimately be harmful to you. There may be long term side effects to using Botox. Botox does pose risks, even when administered by skilled clinicians; those risks are multiplied in the hands of physicians who are untrained in the intricacies of facial anatomy. Too much Botox in the wrong area can create distortions ranging from droopy eyelids and raised brows to loss of facial expression.
I didn't mean that you needed it, Mia. I love your column and you looked fine on the telly... but I keep reading your comments on it (this Sunday's Age ...again) and it is clear you want it (or don't) but don't want anyone else to have it. HAVING BOTOX FOR COSMETIC REASONS IS NOT COMPULSORY.
Also, there is a lot of nonsense being posted here about Botox being 'botulism' (food poisoning)... please, posters, get an idea (or at least some proper information).
Amongst many other medical conditions, Botox is used on juvenile cerebral palsey sufferers ro help them walk (reduces contractures). It has been used for more than 20 years and no 'horror' side effects have been reported in peer reviewed medical journals.
A happy side effect is that it relaxes facial muscles and thus eliminates wrinkles. Once again, IT IS NOT COMPULSORY. Have it, don't have it. But at least stop giving the celebs/non celebs a hard time about it. I, too, get annoyed at Nicole Kidman et al and their 'it's 3 litres of water' nonsense. But you are lumping in all the women and men who have it with this arrant nonsense.
Once again, it WORKS, unlike the Creme de la mer(d)e..., it is no different from dying one's hair (and probably safer given that it is a medical product that has gone through all sorts of human trials... think about the non-trials and potentially dreadful stuff that is in hairdyes)...
Finally, IT IS NOT COMPULSORY. It is not a slippery slope to wind tunnel face/ plastic surgery ... the slippery slope argument is just sloppy thinking.
As for younger writers here who are saying 'embrace your wrinkles'... I say, get some and then come back and see me.... (see Jane Fonda circa 1970's regarding that one).
I am not advocating it one way or another. I take your point that we shouldn't want it (wish I didn't!). But for goodness sake. Make a decision about it and then let it go. It is boring... there are other much more important things to talk about and laugh about....your columns used to be funny...
This whole thing reminds me of the pseudo feminist 'all thin women diet/have eating disorders (they don't, some people are naturally thin) and should be pilloried (lollipop head- yep, been called that), 'fat is a feminist issue', it isn't, it's an eating disorder- much in the way that anorexia nervosa is- (except that girls with anorexia get told, to their faces 'ugh, you're so thin, ugly, etc, or are treated as curiosities by the media) and a health issue.
I am tired of the body police, too... but I am FOR good, feminist analysis... not media driven drivel about the female body (face), Botox etc.
Sigh.
Excellent, rational argument.
You're spot on with your comment about young girls saying, "Embrace your wrinkles." That was my philosophy ten years ago but it's changed now that I have (arghhh) real, permanent wrinkles.