Barbara McCarthy: Madonna at 60: Is she brave enough to ditch fillers?
HAPPY 60th birthday, Madge. The Material Girl reaches her milestone on Thursday week and will celebrate by raising money for kids in Malawi.
A noble cause, but I’m sure she’s probably waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat going: “I’m 60. How the hell did that happen? I feel 24.”
The build up is worse. I remember it from 40. Then once it’s over, you’re grand for a few years until the next milestone scares the bejesus out of you. That and every time you see your reflection in a window.
There’s absolutely nothing we can do about it unfortunately, so we just have to be thankful we’re still healthy. Ageing unites us all – even Hollywood divas can’t defy it, despite protestation.
When asked how she feels about getting older in an interview with Oprah, Cher said: “I think it sucks.” Tina Turner, 68 at the time, was sitting beside her and laughed her ass off.
Oprah continued. “But what about all the wisdom...” “Oh, f**k that.”
Cher has a point. In this day and age, who cares about wisdom? Unfortunately when you’re a woman like Madonna, Cher, Kate Moss or the generation of supermodels, the pressure to look young is huge, but it’s largely not just from society.
Sadly Madonna is a victim of ageism – self-inflicted ageism. Rather than embrace age, she’s in the gym five hours a day, pumping derma fillers into her face and butt masks on to her derrière and whatever else.
It’s hardly news celebs get too much work done. Nicole Kidman, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith, Courteney Cox, Kris Jenner, all the Kardashians – just about anyone who doesn’t want to age as nature intended.
“Youth is a state of mind. I don’t do anything different than I used to do. I keep going,” she says. But why is she going around looking like ‘pillow face’?
I didn’t coin the phrase, I’m just the messenger.
For the untrained, ‘pillow face’ is when you get so much hyaluronic acid injected into your cheeks that they plump up so much you look like you’ve been floating upsidedown in a pond for a week.
(Just to give you some background about other popular treatments: botox freezes the forehead and wrinkles around the eyes, while collagen, which should be avoided at all costs, makes your lips look like frankfurters at best and Donald Duck at worst.)
Personally, I’m not against any kind of treatments.
I too am quite obsessed with my appearance. Women should do whatever makes them happy, but wax faces? C’mon.
It’s so anti post-Weinstein Hollywood too. Like I thought you guys were all about achievement and empowerment?
I thought everyone was hairy legs and grey hair? Clearly not.
Trailblazers like Madonna are buying into the one thing they’re trying to fight. What a contradiction.
When it comes to ageing, men generally have the upper hand.
I don’t mean they look better; they’re so deluded they don’t seem to notice that time has not only caught up with them, it’s swallowed them whole.
“Yeah we improve with age,” blokes with beer bellies, comb-overs and a few missing teeth say in the pub on dole day.
I think that statement refers to Sean Connery, George Clooney, Roger Moore. Not Pintman.
At the risk of sounding superficial, if I had thinning hair and had to smile on the left side of my face because my teeth fell out when I fell over pissed that one time, I wouldn’t be seen in public.
Women get a harder time, that’s for sure. Look at Brigitte Bardot. We always see these ‘before and after’ photos.
One is taken in Buzios, Brazil, in the 1960s and the other when she’s taking the bins out last week, covered in cats, and they put them side by side in a ‘who wore it worst’ kind of way.
There’s 50 years between the photos, you evil people. It’s not like a Friday at the ball/Monday at the early house comparison.
At the same time, I admire her for not caring. French women own it.
Madonna’s in the gym five hours a day, pumping derma fillers into her face and butt masks on to her derrière
They mature with age and confidence and it’s really attractive. Look at Catherine Deneuve.
YOU can look fabulous if you have the confidence to deliver it. Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave and Kate Bush look fabulous. Bush, who just turned 60, still manages to maintain an air of otherworldly mystique.
So why not own it? You’ve been so unafraid for your entire career, so why not practice what you preach, Madonna?
I know age is a delicate thing and we’re obsessed with it.
Carol Vorderman, a 57-year-old UK TV presenter, felt the need to post online that she was asked for ID buying wine last week.
“Day made,” she wrote. That’s a lie. She means year. This woman is a maths grad from Cambridge. How anti-achievement is this?
No one likes the fact that the years are passing by and you can see your body ageing, but at the same time, mentally we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. So just go with it and just think of the alternative.
Lots of women say they don’t care about age until someone guesses them to be older than they are. Year destroyed.
Anyway, if Madonna really wants to lead a revolution, and empower women, lead the way and ditch the fillers. Now’s your time to really make a difference. Are you brave enough?