Jolie came face to face with the (free!) surgeon’s knife…but she said no
If there’s one thing We don’t like, it’s a judgmental person. (And people who use the Royal We. Oh God, We hate Ourselves!) Jolie believes in a Live and Let Live, To Each Their Own kind of Kumbaya universe, and feels that everybody has enough on their plate without worrying about their neighbor’s portions. So, I have very mixed feelings about plastic surgery. As you know, I work with two remarkable facial plastic surgeons in LA, and I love what they do, which is to say fixing the rhinoplasty eff-ups of other surgeons. In Beauty Confidential, I specifically set out my policy toward plastic surgery: life is too short to obsess over imperfections, so either learn to love ‘em, or fix ‘em and move on. I still feel this way.
Except, today marks one year since I’ve been living in Los Angeles, and, as so often happens in life, my views have changed without me realizing it. I used to automatically lean toward the “Hell, fix it!” end of the spectrum. Now, I pause.
I live in a city full of pneumatic bottle-blondes with pillowy lips and no hips…some genetically cultivated (thanks, Mom!), but most acquired through blood, sweat, and lots of money. When you wander by the OR on a daily basis and are the only A-cup with soft thighs in a five-mile radius, it’s hard not to think, “Well…maybe…” Why not a nip here? Or a tuck there? For me, the recent, and very real, proposition was even simpler: I know the anesthesiologist (who’s on her third surgery in what seems as many months), am chums with the Dr. 90210 surgeon, can get a free room at the after-care facility, will have the operating room fee comped, can get ample publicity for my book, be on TV again…and have thinner thighs, to boot! Everybody wins!
I was seriously going to do it. Of course, I’ll have to blog about it, I thought, to avoid any embarrassing Legally Blonde-type subterfuge. I’d long ago abandoned dreams of bigger breasts—I’m “fun-sized” and that’s just my lot in life—but free liposuction on those stubborn saddlebags that even my four-miles-per-day (yes, really) walking/hiking won’t cure? It’s Hollywood, baby. Everybody does it.
While tossing and turning in bed, fretting about what I would one day tell my theoretical daughter (”Love your body! You are beautiful just as you are!” “But didn’t you have liposuction, mommy?”), I realized: there is not a damn thing wrong with me. (Well, okay…not a damn thing wrong with my body. Habitual lateness? Smacking when I chew? We can discuss those later.) At the end of the day, claiming to have rock-solid self-esteem and simultaneously going under the knife…it just felt off. Do I look like a supermodel? No. But I choose to keep my chubby, cute little thighs, and my small breasts, and I choose to feel beautiful and sexy even without a “perfect” body.
If you want plastic surgery, have realistic expectation, and make an informed decision, I don’t judge. (I’ll even give you the names and numbers of excellent doctors!) But for me? I’ll pass on the Hollywood ideal that keeps getting shoved down my throat–and will not second-guess my decision for a second.
(Wonder what a guy thinks about it? This fantastic article mirrors the perspective of some (but sadly, not all) California guys I know.)
Tags: breast implants, liposuction
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
YOU GO JOLIEEEEE
you re beautiful. dont doubt it! x
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
You know your readers will love you nonetheless right? Whether it’s with chubby or skinny thighs, big or small boobs!
It’s kinda weird, but having grown up in LA my whole life, I’m pretty immuned to the whole Hollywood image. I guess after a while you just get used to having extremely good looking people around you, and you stop thinking about your flaws.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
You are officially my fave blogger! It’s women like you that make women, like me, that may not have “perfect” (whatever that is!) bodies. We should all start thinking positively about our bodies and not doing to ourselves what we would never do to our family, daughters or friends! Thanks for writing about this!
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
nadine,
you have a beautiful figure and face. you don’t need to change anything.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I imagine that was not an easy decision living In LA. I am glad you stayed true to yourself. I love your look “as is” and I’m glad you do too!
August 24th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
jolie, this article is wonderful and inspirational. and yeah, you go jolie!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Really, only people in LA think the LA look is attractive anyways.