Kim Novak doesn’t have to explain herself.
However, amidst the tumult of tweeters (so very brave behind the anonymity of their hateful 140 characters), she addressed the oh-so-obvious derisive diction slung her way following the Hollywood award show. Actually, she addressed it a while ago, smart guys. This is old news. When Kim shared her experience with plastic surgery before, she admitted she was self-conscious about the results.
What she also admitted (which is of more meaning than “mugs-after-plastic-surgery” snaps and something with which most of us can identify) is that she trusted the advice of a doctor (in her case, a plastic surgeon). Then she was severely let down by that doctor in a way she can’t hide easily now.
“I didn’t want to do anything major,” she recalled.
But when the surgeon suggested fat injections to add “fullness” to her face, she complied. “That was absolutely crazy when I think about it now. You spend all your time trying to get rid of fat. I love the hollow kind of cheekbone look,” Novak said, adding:
“So why did I do it? I trusted somebody doing what I thought they knew how to do best. I should have known better, but what do you do? We do some stupid things in our lives. I mean you pay to look worse? You pay money for that?”
Preach, girl!
Novak, who is 81 years ol- Wait, wait, wait. Does it matter how old she is? Really? I mean, can we just agree she’s in her golden years now? That she’s had a fulfilling career and life? And that reaching life’s twilight could have been curtailed inasmuch as she was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago?
Listen, loves, we’ll reach that age too, (insert higher-power-of-your-choice-here) willing. Some, however, will still be ensconced in the obscure misery from which they never emerged, amplified by the painful symptoms of Car-Apple Tunnel Syndrome (that’s wrist arthritis from decades of iphone abuse –a term constructed for the use of this article).
Hopefully life-long struggles with bipolar disorder like Kim has, won’t be among your old-age infirmities.
Novak, who has gone through manic depression since childhood, did what glamazon-gangsters of the Hitchcockian blonde genre do: she turned the horrible into the hypnotic with her artistic talents. Drawing on the painting prowess she never got to cultivate at college and an identification with disease sufferers, she held an art show in San Francisco in attempt to raise funds for those afflicted with mental health issues.
“Through the use of symbolism I have found a way to vent life’s frustrations and experience the freedom of self-expression. This is the ultimate reward that comes to the visual artist,” she explained while discussing her 2012 exhibit called “Life Is But A Dream”.
Indeed, life is but a dream – which makes the Hollywood pantheon a mere dream within a dream.
It’s easy to poke fun at celebrities – but that whole arena isn’t real. They seem easy targets because of their pedestal-elevated stature (through no fault of their own) and armies of aestheticians (to maintain the facade). They air with a seemingly superior air between commercials reinforcing the same story you’ve always heard: “you aren’t good enough, so buy this thing.” Then, when these screen-gods need rehab or get old or show up to hot yoga in sweats with messy hair (’cause, ya know, they’re human), we get to punt that pedestal out from under them like Anchorman’s Baxter off a bridge. Depraved when you break it down, no?
Hold on. Let’s pause and take a head count:
Is anyone “Frozen” in their mental-tracks yet – realizing they’ve been bashing a self-conscious, bipolar suffering, octogenarian cancer survivor using her art skills to raise money for mental illness?
Oh. Okay. Just checking.
"No wonder Kim Novak, like Tippi Hedren, Doris Day & Brigitte Bardot…[would] rather spend her time with animals." http://t.co/6cfLO9EY50
— Miriam Bale (@mimbale) March 3, 2014
Movies are great escapes and the actors deserve a high-five for their hard work – just like you do when your boss takes you aside for a pat on the back (and hopefully a raise). If they’re talented and stir some happy feeling in your tummy organ when you watch them perform, they totally warrant recognition for their work. What they don’t deserve is deified adulation for pretending to be other people (generally fictional ones) in a jubilee night of awards. Their craft’s no more important than yours (unless you’re paid to spread ugliness – then anyone’s job is more important than yours).
Listen, it’s not your fault if you’ve been sucked into the false sense of fulfillment that cruelty fleetingly brings. So don’t beat yourself up if you realize you’re a victim of viral misery. As products of a social narrative applauding a facade, we can totally change it.
Just take back your power by pressing the remote’s “power” button.
Don’t suffer in silence with manic depression. Reach out for help: 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK)
Image via Youtube