Great Man of the Day

Dlisted found this quote by Gabriel Byrne which is, to me, like a breath of fresh air. I love it when people call out Oprah on her shit. Love the woman (is Oprah God?) but seriously, she really does airbrush herself to death on her mag.

“Every single picture was airbrushed. Women look at those pictures and say, ‘Why don’t I look like that?’ and husbands say, ‘Why doesn’t my wife look like that at 50?’

“There’s a picture of Oprah on the cover where she looks about 12. If I bought a magazine and put pictures of myself looking 19, somebody would say to me, ‘Stop it’.

“I saw this hilarious ad that had this woman with two tiny wrinkles by her eyes. It said, ‘This is what you look like at 60.’ I know nobody who looked like that even at 20.”

I used to drive down Sunset every day to work and always pass Diane Keaton going in the other direction. She looks great to me but I gotta say, in real life she looks nothing like she does on TV, in film or in print. I give her props for at least trying to look her age, though. Here in America, we’re screwed on the age thing. In the UK, women on TV, as in desirable women on TV, look like adults. You don’t see there being a particular need to only put young and hot women on. I think this is part of the reason here in America actresses are being bred dumb and dumber every year. They are grown to appeal to the target demographic. Therefore, none of the smart, talented actresses are getting themselves known because they can’t get cast in anything. Over in other countries there isn’t such a manic need to appeal to young boys therefore, all different types of women of different ages and sizes are seen on television and in film. It’s a beautiful thing.

Oprah isn’t helping matters. It’s true that she isn’t THAT wrinkled. I saw her on Rachel Ray, though, where the lighting isn’t as well-designed for her face and she finally did look a bit closer to her age.

It’s a shame that I have to raise my daughter in a culture that hates the way we grow and age, where even a woman like Oprah must look good at all costs. And good means not looking like herself. Her real self.