Ashley Judd is slamming the media for calling her recent appearance "puffy."
Judd, who stars in the new ABC show "Missing," wrote an eloquent op-ed piece for The Daily Beast in which she explains that yes, she has gained weight and no, she has not had plastic surgery but looks different due to steroids she had to take while sick with a month-long flu virus.
"“Ashley Judd's wrinkles are 'Missing',” one celebrity plastic surgeon joked about the actress' appearance on her new show, while others called her face the "hamster-cheeked" or "chipmunk face" look.
In her well-written Beast piece, Judd explains that the media's criticism of her looks isn't just an assault on her, but a misogynistic assault on all women.
"As an actor and woman who, at times, avails herself of the media, I am painfully aware of the conversation about women’s bodies, and it frequently migrates to my own body," she admits. "Over time, I matured into the understanding that good and bad are equally fanciful interpretations. I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself. I thus abstain from all media about myself."
But Judd isn't the only actress being critiqued for having a healthy body weight in Hollywood.
"Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence has also recently been discussed in the media, with some saying the Oscar-nominated actress doesn't have a frail enough frame to play a starved District 12 citizen.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote in their review of the film that Lawrence's "lingering baby fat shows here" in the midst of praising her performance.
Despite the film earning $500 million at the box office, it is still Lawrence's body weight getting talked about—which is exactly what Judd has a problem with.
Here's Judd's bottom line:
"The assault on our body image, the hypersexualization of girls and women and subsequent degradation of our sexuality as we walk through the decades, and the general incessant objectification is what this conversation allegedly about my face is really about."
You can read the entire op-ed piece here.
On a lighter note about another smart woman—Get to know Aubrey Plaza, the "Parks & Rec" actress who is about to become a big star >
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