Melissa Gilbert has had her breast implants removed and is ready to age gracefully, not desperately.
Gilbert said in a blog post entitled “A Tale of Two T-tt–s” that she is done trying to live up to the standards put forth by the media and Hollywood.
In the funny post, Melissa Gilbert lists some reasons why she is having her implants removed.
She wrote, “A. I am concerned for my health and 2. I don’t like the way they look or feel. Frankly, I’d like to be able to take a Zumba class without the fear that I’ll end up with two black eyes.”
But, those aren’t the only reasons. Gilbert is fed up with trying to keep up with an image that isn’t real.
“During the last few seasons of Little House I was made to wear a padded bra. When I did the re-make of Splendor in the Grass (one of the worst performances of my career, by the way), those in charge, put me in a girdle, a corset, a padded bra and even painted cleavage on me! They also shaded the sides of my nose so it wouldn’t look so wide.”
After posting a series of visual examples about how women, in particular, are made to feel like they’re not good enough unless they’re perfect, Melissa Gilbert continued,
“This is our culture. It has been for a long, long time and I fell right into it. I believed that, not only would I work more, but people would love me more if I looked a certain way. Sad but true. My self-image was in the proverbial toilet. Strangely enough though, it didn’t extend to my breasts. I really was happy with them. small (A cups) but low maintenance.”
Melissa Gilbert went on to tell of breastfeeding her two sons and the effect that act of motherhood had on her breasts. She says her husband commented that they looked like socks full of marbles with knots at the top. Of course, she eventually divorced that husband, but the comment stuck with her and joined all of the others she had collected as a young woman in Hollywood.
“I had spent most of my life pressured to look a certain way and I believed the hype. The height of this obsession with my outward appearance culminated with my appearance on the dancing show. It was all about spray tan and glitter and glamour and what other people think and being skinny, way too skinny!! Yuck!!”
What effect do you think Hollywood and media have on our body images? Do you agree or disagree with Melissa Gilbert?