Ageing actresses should put up with wrinkles rather than risk looking like over-Botoxed Harry Met Sally star Meg Ryan
Meryl Streep says treatments 'freeze women's features' and stop them acting - but it's no real surprise given the pressure for women to look young in Hollywood
MEG RYAN was once America’s Sweetheart. Now she looks like a goldfish.
The gorgeous, fresh-faced girl-next-door who charmed us in movies such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless In Seattle appears to be just another insecure Hollywood woman with “wind tunnel” features.
This band of unfortunates have foreheads that are too shiny, mouths that are too pouty and cheekbones that are way too prominent.
They all look waxy, puffy and permanently startled. Meg has always refused to confirm she has had any “assistance” or work done, and she’s entitled to do so.
But it’s really sad that far too many women in Hollywood have so little self-esteem they resort to fillers, Botox and even going under the knife in a deluded and ultimately doomed attempt to appear eternally youthful.
Some of the most stunningly beautiful actresses I have interviewed are the ones who are relaxed about the ageing process.
Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench are alluring, sexy and utterly gorgeous.
This is because, not in spite of, the fact they have laughter lines and their faces are expressive and mobile.
Meryl told me she was utterly baffled that actresses would willingly subject themselves to treatments such as Botox that freeze their features and make them unable to do their job properly.
She’s right. Why make your face as smooth as a hard-boiled egg, eradicate everything interesting about your appearance and render yourself unable to express emotion, when that’s a basic requirement of being in the acting business.
It obviously helps that Meryl, along with Helen and Judi, are all supremely talented and were never hired for just their looks — primarily, instead, for their impressive acting skills.
They appear to be so scared of showing signs of growing older, they end up panicking and visiting cosmetic surgeons who turn them into a cross between The Joker from every Batman film ever made and a Picasso painting.
I don’t actually blame these women for taking such desperate action.
They are trying to survive in a business where women simply aren’t allowed to age gracefully and are under enormous pressure to stay forever young.
Men, of course, can develop grey hair, baggy eyes, pot bellies and more wrinkles than Mother Teresa but will still be cast as action men and sex symbols.
George Clooney will continue to “get the girl” even when he is drawing his pension, but you can be damned sure his female co-star and love interest will be in her late twenties or possibly early thirties.
It’s always been thus in La La Land.
Gene Kelly was 40 when he made the classic Singin’ In The Rain, while his co-star Debbie Reynolds was just 19.
It would have been far more believable if Gene had sailed off into the sunset with the smoking-hot Cyd Charisse, who was 30 years old when the movie was released.
But that’s not the Hollywood way.
When they grow older, women can find themselves brutally discarded just at a time when their wisdom and experience mean they are at the height of their powers, and it can drive them to taking drastic action.
Seeing photos of Meg, Melanie Griffith and Faye Dunaway these days is as shocking as watching the aftermath of a machete attack on the Mona Lisa.
Surely it would have been better to put up with a few wrinkles.
I feel desperately sorry for all of the actresses who have supped from such a poisoned chalice — and wonder how they feel when they see re-runs of their old films then look in the mirror to see the wreckage of their once-beautiful faces.
Lee's murder left mum Lyn with life sentence
THE barbaric murder of soldier Lee Rigby shocked us all.
The young man was hacked to death in broad daylight in Woolwich, South London, three years ago.
It was a crime that was almost too grotesque to comprehend – and while we have since been able to get on with our lives, his family have gone through the torments of hell.
This week I talked to Lee’s mum Lyn – a woman who has had to deal with the unbearable agony of how her son died then sit through the trial of his killers, who showed absolutely no remorse for murdering him.
Lyn told me she had realised right away that it was her boy who had been butchered when she turned on her TV and saw the blurred footage of his dead body lying on the road.
She knew Lee would have called her immediately to put her mind at rest and tell her he was safe, and when her phone didn’t ring she lost all hope.
Lyn had gone through the agony of worrying about Lee when he served in Afghanistan, and thought the worst was over when he returned safe and sound from his tour of duty.
She still can’t come to terms with him being brutally killed back here in the UK.
Lyn is very honest about the fact she drank too much to try to cope with her loss – and who could blame her?
Heartbreakingly, she would visit Lee’s grave in the dead of night, when she couldn’t sleep, and would sit there blinded by tears talking to her son.
Along with Lee’s stepdad, Ian, and his sisters, the Rigby family are currently serving a life sentence.
Sadly, they don’t have any contact with Lee’s little son. But they are hopeful that, one day, bridges will be rebuilt and they might be able to spend time with their grandson – who is all they have left of their boy.
It has been unimaginably tough for everyone who loved Lee.
But Lyn and Ian have poured their despair and anger into something positive by setting up a foundation in Lee’s name to try to help out other bereaved families.
It was good to see Lyn’s eyes light up when she talked to me about her son.
He was no saint and was a funny, cheeky, naughty boy when he was a lad.
But he was a young man with his whole life in front of him and his death must never be forgotten.
Lyn’s book, A Mother’s Story, Simon & Schuster, £16.99, is out now.
Liev and let live, Brangelina
PLEASE take note, Brad and Angelina. It is perfectly possible to split up with dignity and decorum, even when both parties are successful Hollywood stars.
Ray Donovan actor Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts announced their separation this week with a joint statement that spoke of their deep friendship and affection for one other and their desire to ensure their two children’s happiness by bringing them up together.
As is only right and proper, they want to make the whole process as painless as possible for the boys, now Mum and Dad have decided they can no longer stay together.
I honestly don’t understand why Brad and Angelina couldn’t have done the same.
Hope gleeful Will & Grace reunion signals new series
ONE of my favourite ever comedy characters returned for a brief reunion with the rest of her gang this week.
Will & Grace’s horribly drunk, pill-popping, self-obsessed Karen joined up with Jack – and Will and Grace, of course – for a hilarious 15-minute skit urging Americans to get out and vote in the upcoming presidential election.
As you would expect, both Will and Grace are backing Hillary, while Karen is a Trump cheerleader.
The only change in the past ten years, since the show went off air, is that Karen has shrunk about four dress sizes.
But she still has a hugely impressive “rack”, her trademark squeaky voice and the best comic timing in the business.
I hope this has given all the cast and writers a hunger to bring back Will & Grace for a new series.
Tom's brave fashion choices don't say 'Bond'
IT takes a special kind of man to carry off a pair of over-priced fluffy mules with aplomb and to be dressed from head to toe in shiny black leather and maintain an ounce of dignity.
Tom Hiddleston is not that man.
His latest fashion shoots have been calamitous and, despite the efforts of his publicists, he is now about as cutting edge as comedy duo Little and Large and has as much chance of being the new James Bond as either Syd or Eddie.
An-why was he ever hired?
CORRIE actor Marc Anwar was sacked for sending vitriolic, racially offensive tweets, but most of us were aghast that he was ever cast in the show in the first place.
A wooden lamp stand in the corner of Audrey’s Salon would have been a more convincing performer, and because of some seriously stiff acting Sharif Nazir was never a believable inhabitant of the street.
It was a bizarre piece of casting that backfired horribly, but hopefully the rest of the Nazir family will be able to survive his departure and become Wetherfield favourites.