Happy birthday to Demi Moore, who turns 47 today.
She’s an intriguing treat for celebrity watchers, because she insists she hasn’t had plastic surgery even though her youthful appearance seems easiest to understand as the product of a surgeon’s art.
In case you’re intrigued by her, here are two slide shows that feature the new 47-year-old:
Posts about Demi Moore:
See ‘SEXY MIDDLE-AGED STARS’ slide show
Photo: Above, Michelle Pfeiffer this year at age 51. Below, Elizabeth Hurley, age 44. Bottom, Naomi Campbell, age 39. (Getty Images photo)
NEW IDEAL
People have a new image of what middle-aged women should look like.
Younger, to put it simply.
For starters, the ideal middle-aged woman has no grey hair. She’s almost wrinkle-free too.
Even as people live longer, the expectation is that women will look younger.
This contradictory expectation is based on the work of hair dressers, cosmetic doctors and young-looking 40- and 50-something celebrities.
In a world where women are unfairly judged on their looks, this isn’t a healthy development. It increases the pressure to maintain an unnaturally youthful appearance.
It’s only a welcome change to the extent that society’s expectations reflect the improved health of today’s women in comparison to their mothers and grandmothers at the same age.
Dermatologist Dr. Lorrie Klein and I discussed the subject during this week’s online “In Your Face CHAT.”
She sees age as more acceptable than in the past, even though she’s in the business of helping people look younger.
“As the baby boomers are getting older, looking older is more accepted,” Klein said. “It isn’t bad to be over 30 anymore.”
“However, we now have better tools to stay looking younger,” she said.
Some different expectations about middle-aged women’s looks come from the widespread acceptance of hair coloring. Wrinkles go quite nicely with gray hair, but not so well with blonde, brunette or red hair.
At the same time, people are taking care of their skin better, which helps keeps skin younger-looking, Klein said.
And people are increasingly open to the idea of cosmetic medicine.
It can still be an embarrassing subject. That’s how hair coloring used to be.
It was a secret that “only her hairdresser knows for sure,” but now it’s obvious, acceptable and discussable.
Plastic surgery, Botox injections and laser treatments aren’t as widely accepted as that, but they’re heading in that direction.
“Over the last few years, as Botox and fillers have become popular and doing cosmetic procedures has become more mainstream, having treatments to look younger has changed expectations,” Klein said.
These changes have also affected people’s attitude to the term “middle age.”
Reference books define it as age 40-60 or age 45-60. But the U.S. Census says middle age lasts from 35 to 54, which is surprising until you realize that those years straddle the midpoint of a 90-year lifespan.
“Since I am now 50 years old, I think 55 and older is middle age,” Klein joked. “But realistically, usually 45 and older” is middle age, she said.
I replied, “I wasn’t comfortable with being in that category until shortly before I started qualifying for senior discounts. How’s that for denial?”
“How about getting AARP magazines sent to you?” she asked.
“I refused to open those,” I replied.
Young-looking celebrities who have contributed to people’s expectations for middle age include:
See the slide show, “,” to see what Klein had to say about five of those celebrities and how they may have benefited from the skills of cosmetic doctors.
That list can be disquieting, since people aren’t used to thinking of middle age as the middle part of life.
“It’s pretty hard to think of Naomi Campbell or Elizabeth Hurley as middle-aged,” a reader commented during the online chat.
I agree, even though 44-year-old Hurley fits within a couple of definitions of middle age.
At 39, Campbell is middle-aged only by the definition of the U.S. Census.
Do you think the Census counts? Not when middle-aged people are asked when middle age begins.
What’s your definition of middle age?
Recent celebrity posts:
See ‘SEXY MIDDLE-AGED STARS’ slide show
Photo: Santa Ana native Michelle Pfeiffer, age 51. (Getty Images photo)
Today’s online chat with dermatologist Dr. Lorrie Klein of Laguna Niguel will include a discussion of the ways that celebrities such as Michelle Pfeiffer, 51, (above), Demi Moore, 46, Elizabeth Hurley, 44, Courteney Cox, 45, and perhaps Naomi Campbell, 39, (all pictured below) have created new expectations for the face of middle age.
(Depending on which authority you believe, middle age begins at 40 or 45. If you rely on U.S. Census categories, it begins at 35.)
The chat will also focus on readers’ questions and on the long-lasting injectable filler Artefill. Klein will discuss some of the before and after photos from this blog’s “Closeups: Artefill patients.”
The “In Your Face CHAT” is scheduled for 12 to 1 p.m. today, Wednesday, Oct. 21.
CLICK HERE to drop in on the chat during those hours or to arrange for a reminder ahead of time.
Advance questions will be accepted by email and Twitter through mid-morning:
Or simply join us online and ask your questions live, starting at noon Pacific time Wednesday.
Because each “In Your Face CHAT” will be on the Internet, visitors can participate from anywhere - at 3 p.m. Eastern time or 8 p.m. London time, for example.
Photo: Demi Moore, age 46. (Getty Images photo)
Photo: Elizabeth Hurley, age 44. (Getty Images photo)
Photo: Naomi Campbell, age 39. (Getty Images photo)
Photo: Courteney Cox, age 45. (Getty Images photo)
Slide shows:
Dermatologist Dr. Lorrie Klein of Laguna Niguel will join Wednesday’s online chat to discuss the long-lasting injectable filler Artefill and the ways that celebrities such as Michelle Pfeiffer, Demi Moore and Elizabeth Hurley have created new expectations for the face of middle age.
She will also answer readers’ questions about skin care during the online “In Your Face CHAT,” scheduled for 12 to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21.
CLICK HERE to drop in on the chat during those hours or to arrange for a reminder ahead of time.
Advance questions will be accepted by email and Twitter through mid-morning on Wednesday:
Or simply join us online and ask your questions live, starting at noon Pacific time Wednesday.
Because each “In Your Face CHAT” will be on the Internet, visitors can participate from anywhere - at 3 p.m. Eastern time or 8 p.m. London time, for example.
Slide shows:
See ‘Demi Moore vs. plastic surgery’ slide show
Photo: Above, Demi Moore, age 46, last April. (Photo by AP) Immediately below, Demi Moore at age 44 two years ago. (Photo courtesy of MatrixPhotos.com) Bottom photo, Demi Moore this month. (Photo by Getty Images)
SHE’S NOT QUITE AGELESS
Even in Hollywood, the land of beautiful illusions, Demi Moore stands out as an enigma.
People scrutinize the actress’s wrinkle-free face and tell themselves no 46-year-old could look that way without plastic surgery.
Not so, she says again and again.
“It’s completely false. I’ve never had it done,” she recently told an interviewer from the French edition of Marie Claire magazine. “I don’t like the idea of having an operation to hold up the aging process. It’s a way to combat your neurosis.”
That’s much the same thing she told a British interviewer two years ago.
“It’s irritating. And it isn’t true. To fight it feels futile because I feel it perpetuates the myth,” Moore said. “The culmination for me was when there were multiple reports I had my knees done. When I read that, I thought, ‘Wow, should I have been worried about my knees?’ ”
Whether she’s telling the truth or not, the enigma of Demi Moore highlights just how subtle the effects of modern cosmetic medicine can be.
A person who has never gone under the knife or the needle can be indistinguishable from someone a bit older who has benefitted from the skills of a talented doctor.
The frozen forehead of an overly injected Botox patient is easy to spot, as is the tight skin that results from an old-style facelift. But these days, if you can tell someone had work done, that work wasn’t done well.
Today, the goal of cosmetic medicine is a “more refreshed appearance,” says plastic surgeon Dr. Milind Ambe of Newport Beach.
21ST-CENTURY COSMETIC MEDICINE
The question “Did she or didn’t she?” becomes more difficult to answer as dermatologists injecting Botox and fillers achieve results that formerly would require surgery.
That change means actresses such as Moore can benefit from the arts of modern cosmetic medicine and still deny with a straight face that they’ve ever had plastic surgery.
Dermatologist Dr. Renee Cobos of Fullerton suggests that Moore has taken that route.
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