14 DAY TRIAL // Just today, a new interview with Justin Jedlica (aka Ken Doll) came out, in which he asks this question: why should he (or any other person for that matter) be happy with what God gave him, with what he was born? Why should he not reinvent himself constantly through plastic surgery, especially since that also means he can make a living by being a celebrity? No actual skills required, you know.
Today, plastic surgery is more than just something famous people get in order to best fit an ideal of beauty that, I suspect, was invented by Hollywood and the entertainment industry specifically to torment us and make us feel worse about ourselves in our worst days.
Plastic surgery remains a celebrity staple, it’s true, but it’s also become a staple with regular Joes and Janes as well, with figures indicating a steep rise in procedures that have come to be regarded as “common,” like breast augmentation, facelifts, liposuction, and their less invasive “twins,” cosmetic procedures like fillers and Botox.
This piece isn’t about the driving factors behind said rise or why people turn to surgery to “improve” their appearance. The reasons are varied and every person out there is entitled to do as he or she sees fit with their body, if they have the money. I would never dare to question that.
This piece is about how the celebrity culture has standardized plastic surgery (and I’m talking drastic transformations here, like Jedlica’s, not just a mere nose job), to the point where what was once considered “freakish” is now the norm. And that’s because surgery has become more than a staple: it’s the very reason for celebrity.
As Jedlica says: “There seems to be this overwhelming idea that you should be happy with what God gave you or what you were born with. There’s this weird stigma around allowing yourself to feel ownership over your own body and really take charge of how people view it. I don’t understand that at all.”
By getting plastic surgery and turning himself into an actual human version of the popular Mattel doll (seriously, this guy’s upper body is entirely made of plastic, with everything from cheek implants to pecs and abs implants), he argues that’s he’s making art. He’s using words like “creative expression” and “empowerment” to justify the fact that he is pretty much addicted to plastic surgery. He’s contributing to the standardization of the plastic look, he’s reshaping the concept of beauty into something that is as far from natural as possible.
In doing so, he’s telling people, his “fans,” that this is something they should aspire to, as if the way they are is not good enough. He is setting trends, becoming a cultural force. Laugh as you will but, as long as he boasts about his surgical transformation, there will be people desiring his look and eventually going down the same path.
He’s not the only one doing it, either. Consider the many articles written about celebrities who have undergone similarly drastic transformations, and how much play they get compared to other celebrity materials. Heidi Montag wanted to be a Barbie, so she forked up a fortune to become one. Jocelyn Wildenstein wanted to look like a cat because her husband loved felines: today, she’s barely recognizable underneath all that work and her hubby has long divorced her, freaked out by what she’d turned into.
Sylvester Stallone and his mother are often quoted among the worst examples of surgical face work. Kim Kardashian looks like a wax version of her older self today, complete with a much more prominent bum. Joan Rivers jokes that her body contains so much plastic she would melt if you placed her near a direct source of heat. At one point in his life, Pete Burns was oozing puss from his face because of botched implants. And I could go on like this for ever – or, at the very least, at least another 10 to 20 minutes more.
The bottom line is that almost everyone in showbiz has had some work done: some go all the way and go under the knife, others choose to be a bit more subtle about it because they don’t want to lose the ability to move their face, which is vital in a profession like acting. I get it, the pressure to look good in front of the camera must be huge, just as it must be heartbreaking to stop being in demand because you have too many lines on your face.
But the sad reality is not that, but rather the fact that the celebrity culture not only awards but actually encourages plastic surgery. As Jedlica says, when you get so much attention and fans, when you make so much money by changing who you really are, what would be the purpose to grow old as God or Mother Nature intended you to?
The answer to all those questions comes from another celebrity, the very smart and beautiful Rashida Jones: because investing in your looks doesn’t pay off in the long run. We’ll all grow old and wrinkly no matter how much Botox we put in our lines, or how much fat we have transferred from our bum to our cheeks. Invest in education instead, invest in perfecting yourself as a professional and human being.
When celebrity culture beckons you to thicken the lines of plastic dolls, resist the urge and just be yourself, from start to finish. Because this can – and does – happen:
