Laura Dern is not complying with ageism on social media and in Hollywood.
Laura sat down with The Independent to promote her new film Is This Thing On?. The actress reflected on the rise of cosmetic procedures to stop signs of aging and people’s general backlash over anyone showing any such signs.
"Lately, I have never seen more shame around ageing and women as public figures, and it’s just so tragic," she remarked.
Laura gave the example of her close friend Sheryl Crow, whom she met recently and marveled over.
"She’s more badass than ever. She sounds better. She’s hotter than ever! And yet, [we’re still hearing] this old story of needing to hide, or fix all the stuff that shows our wisdom," she noted.
Laura’s co-star Andra Day, who joined her in the interview, agreed, adding, "I’m doing away with the social rules of what you’re supposed to be doing at this age. I’m not going to do any of the shrinking that people or society has – even unconsciously – required of me. I’m going to break the rules, actually."
She went on to note how with social media and newer cosmetic procedures, people are more unforgiving towards signs of aging.
"But it’s so much worse now than for my mother’s generation," she sighed. "I remember, when I was a child, hearing her friends talk about the pressure at 70 to get a facelift if you wanted to keep working.
The Lonely Planet star added, "But now I’m hearing my 21-year-old daughter’s friends say, ‘You should get Botox now so that you’re never wrinkled.'"
“Preventative Botox!” Day remarked.
“It’s tragic!” declared the Big Little Lies star.
The Academy Award winner also argued that preventative botox is just another trick to make girls buy more.
Laura said, "So the idea that we’re advancing in empowerment is bats***. And these are societal norms that have been created, most of the time, from people’s fears and insecurities. And it’s all consumerism, right?... They’re saying we’ll have a whole generation of girls buying our products if we say it’s ‘preventative’. But we’re supposed to be the ones to not buy into it, right?"
She concluded, "So I look forward to watching all of us grow together into comfort in our own skin."
Is This Thing On?, directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Will Arnet opposite Laura Dern, is in cinemas now.