I just don't recognise anyone anymore

[Janik]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

WOM wrote:

Where are the indications of surgery? She still has crow's feet. Don't see any lip enhancement. Her forehead was always clear and smooth. It's just a really unflattering photo. Shows up the bags under eyes, the cyst on her cheek, all the flaws a decent photographer would deal with.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/what-s-she-done-uma-thurman-pulls-a-renee-zellweger-1.2229246

Try the 'before/after' sliders on these photos and then decide whether it's a lighting issue or she's had work done.

Well, as the article says it is hard to pick anything specific thing. Beyond her skin just looking a bit... shiny as if it has been stretched. Or is over-lit.

[WOM]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

That's the thing, isn't it? It's nothing you can put your finger on, but a package deal. She just doesn't look like her any more. Which is a shame, I think.

[Borracho]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Her eyes and eyebrows look totally different from before.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

WOM wrote:

Where are the indications of surgery? She still has crow's feet. Don't see any lip enhancement. Her forehead was always clear and smooth. It's just a really unflattering photo. Shows up the bags under eyes, the cyst on her cheek, all the flaws a decent photographer would deal with.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/what-s-she-done-uma-thurman-pulls-a-renee-zellweger-1.2229246

Try the 'before/after' sliders on these photos and then decide whether it's a lighting issue or she's had work done.

Or, google twenty years' worth of Uma photos. Throughout, she looks completely recognizable, regardless of age or condition. Now, like Renee, she doesn't look like her anymore.

Yeah I did look at earlier photos.

Now, like Renee, she doesn't look like her anymore.

No eye make-up and police line-up lighting will do that.

[WOM]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Once a paid shill for the facelift cartel, always a paid shill for...

[pebblethefish]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

I thought it was Gwyneth Paltrow, but I'm not niormally good at recognising people.

[G-Man]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

On the subject of Smokey Robinson, he's been sporting the jovial rigor mortis look for a long time now.

Here's something I wrote almost exactly eight years ago:

Last week I watched parts of a count-down of “100 biggest celebrity blunders”, the sort where third-rate “comedians” deliver their fourth-rate “humorous” commentary.

Among the celeb blunderers was Farah Fawcett. In her day, Farrah Fawcett-Majors (as she was then) was the postergirl for unattainable beauty. Presumably not a few late ’70s magazines showcasing the beautiful Farrah were disposed off when pages depicting her could no longer be opened after perusal by teenage boys. Personally I preferred Jaclyn Smith, as far as the angels under Chuck’s command were concerned (and I’d happily have plumbed for Kate Jackson as my Mom).

So Farrah Fawcett blundered on the E! screen, looking quite stunning for a woman in her late 50s. The permanently startled look on her face — one that was evident when she, Jaclyn and Kate appeared last year on the Emmy awards show — suggests that she had a facelift, or four. That aside, she looked great. Until she raised her hands. Like the great Bill Withers, I remember my Grandma’s hands. My grandma was 71 when I was born, and died at 85. My grandma’s hands looked better than those used for gesticulative purposes by Farrah Fawcett. To be fair, though, my grandma’s visage never matched the splendour of Farah’s.

Conventional wisdom has it that it is not the face of a woman that gives away her age — even less so in the age of nipping & tucking — but her hands. Farrah Fawcett therefore is about 78 years old.

Which brings me to Smokey Robinson. One of a trio of R&B legends performing at this week’s Grammies (the others were Lionel Richie and, erm, veteran soulster Chris Brown), Smokey’s apparent face lift was an obvious botch job – the term plastic surgery rarely seemed more literal. His eyelids were fixed in a half-open state, his facial expression was set as though in a state of rigor mortis. The poor man could barely move his mouth for the purpose of singing. And what would he sing but the cruelly mocking words: “Baby take a good look at my face”. The rigid half-smile looked indeed out of place.

At this point I must confess that I share with Farrah and Smokey the attribute of a certain vanity, in as far as that I am, at the age of 40, acutely aware that my good looks are slowly but inexorably fading. I am conscious of the wrinkles around my eyes and detect the onset of drooping jowls. So I use facial cleaners, I moisturize regularly and liberally, regretting only that I did not begin a preventative beauty regimen when I was in my 20s, and hoping that my aggressive metrosexuality might delay the signs of ageing just a little bit longer. Nevertheless, my looks will decline as I career towards my mid-40s, my 50s, my 60s. And looking old, I will yet almost certainly feel as I do today, wondering what I will be when I grow up.

When I hit the age of (perceived) ugliness, I cannot promise that I will outrightly dismiss the option of plastic surgery. The prohibitive costs of nip/tuck aside — and the obvious conclusion that, as Smokey’s old pals The Temptations so persuasively argued, beauty is only skin deep — there is one central deterrent to having cosmetic surgery. I would fear that I might turn out like poor Smokey Robinson and Farrah Fawcett, the subject of at least one blogger’s pitying insolence.

The idea with cosmetic surgery is that people aren’t supposed to notice that the retention of a youthful appearance is contrived. Sometimes it works. Joan Collins, even at the age of 92 (I’m having a wild guess here), looks decades younger than her possibly forged birth certificate would suggest. But when cosmetic surgery does go wrong, the loss of dignity is multifarious: not only do you look a bit stupid, but you look a bit stupid for advertising your vanity. And a bit more stupid for your narcissistic decision having gone wrong.

That is too much of a risk to take. I will not throw out the moisturizers and facial scrubs just yet, but else I shall do like the frighteningly ugly Keith Richard: don’t give a fuck and feel comfortable in my rugged, weathered skin.

[Stumpy Pepys]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Strange thing is that black men age a lot better than white blokes like me.

Mr Richie looks annoyingly good for 65.

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

"Black don't crack", as the saying goes.

Or, black people have different skin composition, more oily, less susceptible to sun damage etc.

[Borracho]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

The main reason why Lionel looks good at his age is probably because he's stinking rich.

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Here's a 60-year old white man who hasn't had surgery ...



I now own that guitar, by the way. :-)

[G-Man]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Who is that person?

[Toby Gymshorts]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Adam Ant.

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Yup. He looks brilliant, and there are better photos but I wanted to show off about my guitar.

[Toby Gymshorts]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Gretsch Falcon?

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

I wish. It's an Electromatic, their cheaper range, but it has a lovely tone - and is a lot heavier than my other guitar.*

* which has its own story. Quite funny that they're currently sharing a stand.

[Toby Gymshorts]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

I've played an Electromatic, they're pretty good.*

*I, on the other hand, am not.

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

I guarantee you are far better than I am at the moment, and I'm not given to false modesty. Just picking it up after a long break and I wasn't that good to start with.

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Re. Ms Thurman, I don't know what to say, one eye looks very puffy and small, as though there's something going on, but that could be an irritation, the result of a non-invasive "procedure", or just caught at the wrong angle. We're all asymmetrical anyway, but if she had surgical work, you'd think they'd try to even it up. Dunno.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Why would people think she had plastic surgery? It's just a photograph where she has one eye more slightly closed than the other. It's the sort of thing that happens when people take 200 photographs of you, and select that one. Also she's just changed her hair, and looks a bit older. But that's what happens when you don't die. I think what confuses people is that it isn't a photograph selected to look as good as possible, before it gets airbrushed.

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Yes, another possibility.

[WOM]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote: Why would people think she had plastic surgery? It's just a photograph where she has one eye more slightly closed than the other. It's the sort of thing that happens when people take 200 photographs of you, and select that one. Also she's just changed her hair, and looks a bit older. But that's what happens when you don't die. I think what confuses people is that it isn't a photograph selected to look as good as possible, before it gets airbrushed.

Or...just or...she's done what countless other aging actors decide to do and try to stop the ravages of time with plastic surgery that doesn't go well and, in some cases, changes their appearance completely.

[hobbes]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

Why would people think she had plastic surgery?

Why would people give a flying fuck if she had plastic surgery?

[MsD]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

It can take a few months to "settle" (if she has had surgery), so may look alright in time.

When I say "alright" .. She still looks fine in that photo, and it could just be a dodgy angle or an eye problem. I've been out with conjunctivitis and it changed the look of my eyes.

[WOM]

I just don't recognise anyone anymore

hobbes wrote:

Why would people think she had plastic surgery?

Why would people give a flying fuck if she had plastic surgery?

Because suddenly she doesn't look like the person we 'knew' any more, and it prompts discussion. If you live in the public eye and suddenly your public face changes, it's going to jolt people. And because she is someone that people like, and the idea that she thought she had to have surgery for us to keep liking her is a bit ... sad. To me anyway. And I don't think it's a huge leap from "There are no good roles for older women" to "maybe I'll have a bit of surgery to look younger". Which, again, is a bit sad. And worthy of conversation.