Jesse Grant/Wireimage; Jason Kempin/WireimageHooray for Kim Kardashian and Jane Fonda for admitting they've done Botox or plastic surgery. Is this honesty a new trend I hope?
—Donna, New Mexico, via the inbox
You'd best temper that "hooray," dear. Yes, Kardashian has said she has tried Botox (and "hated it"), while Fonda has confirmed work on her chin and neck. But plastic surgeons tell me that Hollywood is still as insecure and dishonest over plastic surgery as ever...
...mostly among the A-list set.
How can I prove it? Numbers, of course. Dr. Renato Calabria has long maintained that at least 90 percent of actors over 40 have "had something done." Now, are we seeing 90 percent of aging Hollywood stars jabbing each other with their bony, birdie elbows on the red carpet, jockeying to be the first to confirm their face work?
Exactly.
"Most people are still very keen on keeping their work secret," Calabria tells me. In fact, stars are so eager to guard that secret that they're insisting on procedures that will heal more quickly; all the better to avoid paparazzi shots of one's bandages, you understand.
"There's one procedure that's a mini-lift that has celebrities back walking the red carpet in a week," Calabria says.
So then, given the skill that plastic surgeons have these days, why would any star admit to any sort of work at all?
When it's obvious! Think of Greta Van Susteren, who had work so unmistakable it looked like an eye transplant.
"Sometimes it looks silly to deny it," plastic surgeon Dr. David Alessi explains. "If you're 50 years old, and you look like you're 20, it's obvious that you've had something done, and you may as well say that."
Less invasive work, such as Botox, is also considered to have less of a stigma attached to it, so it makes sense that more actors would admit to having it. And, really, when you look as good as Kim Kardashian does, does the admission of a little needlework do anything to dim that?
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