It’s no secret that many Hollywood stars, especially women, are scrutinized for their looks as they get older. Whether you decide to get cosmetic work done or age naturally, critics will always have their knives out for you if you don’t look like you did in your 20s.
Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, 48, knows this too well: as she’s gotten older many have criticized her changing looks and accused her of getting “bad plastic surgery.”
But now, the actress is clapping back at critics in the best way.
Speaking to Allure recently, the Mad Max: Fury Road star got candid about aging, responding to allegations that she has had a facelift.
“People think I had a facelift,” she told the magazine. “They’re like, ‘What did she do to her face?’”
“I’m like, ‘Bitch, I’m just aging! It doesn’t mean I got bad plastic surgery. This is just what happens.”
Like many women in Hollywood, Theron has been subject to scrutiny over her appearance that her male co-stars typically avoid as they get older; Theron called out this double standard.
“I’ve always had issues with the fact that men kind of age like fine wines and women like cut flowers,” she told Allure. “I despise that concept and I want to fight against it, but I also think women want to age in a way that feels right to them. I think we need to be a little bit more empathetic to how we all go through our journey. My journey of having to see my face on a billboard is quite funny now.”
While Theron naturally looks a little different than she did twenty years ago, she’s still going strong as a major Hollywood star. Her face can be seen in ads for Dior’s L’Or de J’Adore perfume, and she has recently starred in blockbusters like Atomic Blonde, The Old Guard and the Fast and the Furious franchise.
But aging has affected her approach to acting. She famously gained 30 pounds for her Oscar-winning role in 2003’s Monster, but says she wouldn’t gain weight for another role because, at her age, it’s a lot harder to lose it again.
“I called my doctor and I said, ‘I think I’m dying because I cannot lose this weight,’” she recalled after gaining weight for the film Tully. “And he was like, ‘You’re over 40. Calm down. Your metabolism is not what it was.’ Nobody wants to hear that.”
She also says it takes her longer to heal while making action films: “I wish I had my 25-year-old body that I can just throw against the wall and not even hurt tomorrow,” she told Allure. “Now, if I don’t work out for three days and I go back to the gym, I can’t walk. I can’t sit down on the toilet.”
While Theron is candid about aging, she also expressed confidence in her beauty no matter what the critics have to say: “My face is changing, and I love that my face is changing and aging.”
There is so much pressure on women as they get older, especially celebrities in the Hollywood spotlight, so it’s refreshing to hear Charlize Theron get so candid about aging and clap back at her critics.
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READ MORE:
- Justine Bateman defends decision to age naturally despite pressure: ‘I think I look rad’
- Why Julianne Moore, 60, refuses to age gracefully
- Andie MacDowell responds to criticisms that gray hair makes her look old
- Gracefully aging, Helen Hunt is as beautiful today as she was five decades ago
