Monday, January 02, 2006

When bad Botox happens to good people

The Blonde is starting to scare me.

She called me this morning, as I was watching the rain-soaked Rose Parade on TV and thinking this was the year to have gone (the grandstands were half empty, and I've got some bitchin' raingear because of work), and suggested that we go have brunch and finally exchange gifts, since I was working right up until I left town.

We met at The Farm (the one in The Grove - which is expensive and so not worth the money, but she loves it) about 11 am.

The light at 11 am is unforgiving to anyone of any age, but it's especially unforgiving to thirty-something women who have gone way overboard with the botox.

She started out getting botox on her eye wrinkles "just once". She kept getting it over and over again, and now she's starting to get that "Beverly Hills surgery lady" look. I really don't get it. Before she went on the fix-it frenzy, she didn't look bad at all - she looked like a really pretty thirty-something woman.

When I asked what the hell she was thinking, she told me that I just don't understand what it's like to have to look good as I age (this is true - no one really gives a rat's ass what juicers look like - even when we're not on set, and for that I'm grateful). Apparently I'm not under the same enormous pressure to be flawless as she is.

Pretty far-fetched for a makeup artist (albeit one with her own upcoming TV show), but I think she's just afraid of getting older in Los Angeles - land of perpetual surgery-assisted youth and the fat, bald, middle aged men who won't accept women who look older than 19.

As we were walking out she turned to me and said "Guess what I'm going to get done! I'm going to get all those scars and wrinkles lazered off my hands. I think they're really holding me back."

I just shook my head, and wandered off into the rainy afternoon.

I went to the gym and worked out, and after that I sat in the steam room and drank a ton of water, which I guess is my version of botox - except that it makes me feel better even if it doesn't make me look any younger.

I don't think botox does that, does it?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope, it doesn't. As Buddy Ebsen was fond of saying (60s) "pitiful, jest pitiful".

Did you catch the parade on KTLA? In the last 30 seconds, we see a lighting guy, I think one of ABCs, taking down a filter on one of those big can lights. Looked pretty miserable to me...

Ed Araquel said...

Speaking of awful plastic surgery, I would like to point everyone to http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com :) There you can see what Paris Hilton has done to herself in the pursuit of perfection, well, in their eyes anyway. :)

e

Anonymous said...

Hey Peggy,

Glad to see you survived the holidaze!

It's ridiculus what women are doing to themselves; the extremes that some will go to. Will and Grace had a show, where Jack and Karen convinced a socialite to undergo experimental plastic surgery to implant silicone shoulder pads! If that look ever comes back... (Shudder)

As a teetering-on-middleage-man, I like women who are natural, comfortable with themselves, and who can actually laugh/cry, without contorting their faces a-la Halle Berry (Accepting her Oscar.)

But, hey, that's me.

Glad to hear that your rain gear is state of the art. Weather people are forecasting a soaking weather pattern of So. Cal. for the next two months.

Later.

G.

Anonymous said...

took exception to your fat balding midaged man comment if a ninteen old wants to show me here stuff, who am i to say no, beats looking at a mustashed 30 something and haveing to use viagra to get it up,well i could go see brokeback mountian and turn gay,not that theres anything wrong with it. by the way i love the hot sauce and cottage cheeze thanks

Anonymous said...

Glad you aren't believing that bull, Peggy! You're never home to watch PBS, for sure, but if you catch the Dr. Perricone programs he explains that young people have strong facial muscles. Therefore the idea of paralyzing & weakening or cutting the face muscles to look younger is insane. Eating healthy foods & oils keeps muscles strong. But that info wouldn't keep the L.A. doctors rich, would it...

Love your blog!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anne,

Love the blog -- it is pouring rain in NYC today, so we could all use your rain gear!

I find your comments about your friend who is getting botox/plastic surgery so sad/scarey. I must say that in NYC, we think they do WAY TOO MUCH of this stuff on the west coast, and it is far too radical/fake looking -- fake boobs, fake hair, fake noses, fake voices, etc, etc. Although granted, you have much better weather and spend much more time outdoors. Personally, I am 35 and think I look fabulous -- I would not touch my face or body. I would not think of getting anything done until I am (maybe) 65, and by then they will probably come up with something new. And even then, I might not bother -- because I have never met a surgeon who could top God and some lucky genes...

Plus, I think that after 9/11, we just feel lucky to be here.

I know you probably know this, but do some yoga, go for a walk, drink lots of water, have a really cool job/life. The most interesting people have the coolest faces -- think of Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Onassis, Georgia O'Keefe.

Well, still raining here in NYC...

With best wishes for you, too, in the New Year.

Anonymous said...

ps -- I meant Peggy!