Lookism: Before & After shots of celebrities.

There’s theoretical lookism and applied lookism. I’ve blogged more about the former than the latter. The latter includes beauty makeup and cosmetic surgery, among other things.

Lookism goes to the movies.

Because many of you have asked for Before and After pictures of famous faces, not just cleft lip and palate kids, I looked around for some.

Mostly I found Before and After pics of movie stars. And specifically pics of female actors. They are pressured more than male actors to continue looking good if they want long lasting careers.

Lookism personified, right!?

Female Lookism

I’ll start with pics of actresses. Since makeup can create dramatic changes, I’ll forego Before and Afters regarding cosmetic surgery. Go here for a virtual catalogue of glitteratti cosmetic surgery  Before and Afters.

We’ll start with pictures of an actress who claimed to be one of the first African-Americans to win a major Oscar. Charlize Theron’s clever joke about being born in South Africa occurred while she accepted  the Best Actress award.

She won other accolades for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003). The Silver Bear, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.

 

 

 

Mila Kunis, a Ukrainian-American dazzler,  has been caught as frumpy as you and me. Not too often, though. 

 

 

And here are a few others, with and without makeup, from across the celeb spectrum. A few are almost unrecognizable without makeup.  Read on if you’re not sure of the identity of some of these female stars.

Sharon Stone, of Basic Instinct  fame, leads off the pantheon.

 

 

According to The List, “When #NoMakeup and #wokeuplikethis selfies started trending on social media, celebrities were quick to jump on board. There were plenty of fails, as some stars felt eyeliner, blush, and lip gloss didn’t count. The hashtags spawned hilarious parodies as well, like Amy Schumer’s “Girl, You Don’t Need No Makeup” sketch. But some celebs really took the plunge and posted 100% au natural pics, and the results were eye opening to say the least. . . .

Tyra Banks is naturally gorgeous, and to say that she needs to do herself up to be beautiful would be ridiculous. After all, makeup didn’t win her the distinction of being the first African-American woman on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. But, yeah, the crazy eyes and derp-y facial expression she makes here aren’t doing her any favors. Definitely a crazy ex-girlfriend vibe going on. . . .

Nicki Minaj has toned her makeup down from the loud, candy-colored palette of her “Super Bass” days, but she still generally wears plenty. That’s why it’s so shocking to look at her shower selfie without the eye shadow and lash extensions that put her usual look somewhere between Cleopatra and Jessica Rabbit. . . .

Demi Lovato is arguably the queen of no makeup selfies. She posts them constantly, and she’s even done a naked, no makeup, no retouching shoot with Vanity Fair to embrace and reinforce the concept of positive body image to other women. And while she usually looks great, this one kind of misfired. Maybe it’s the blonde hair with dark roots or just a weird angle, but we would have guessed this was the kid from Jerry Maguire all grown up before we guessed. . . .

Chelsea Handler made a name for herself with her bold stand-up comedy, uncensored autobiographical books, and no-punches-pulled talk show on E! She’s also been posting topless photos to Twitter for years, so it’s no surprise that her #NoMakeup photo is one of the roughest of the bunch. Obviously played for laughs, the intentionally bad photo looks more she was trying to recreate one of those After photos in a substance abuse awareness campaign. . . .”

For those of you who want more, here’s a You Tube compendium of mostly females. Apparently, a compilation like this is done yearly.

My own personal favorite Before and After combo is of the German model Heidi Klum. It’s proof that modeling agencies and fashion houses, as well as Hollywood studios, better not fire their makeup artists quite yet.

Lookism: Heidi Klum

Lookism and male actors.

While males generally are spared the burden of “making up” when they’re out in public, some male celebrities resort to cosmetic surgery.Many male celebs  have gone under the knife to correct real or perceived defects.

 

Mickey Rourke, the first celeb pictured below, boxed when he was younger. He claims to have gained a “beat up face” for his trouble. Hence, he went under the knife. Maybe several times. In his early years, he was considered handsome enough to star in a move titled, “Johnny Handsome.” Interestingly Rourke has played a cleft palate afflicted prison inmate.  

Lookism gone wrong.

People often cite Burt Reynolds and Kenny Rogers, the other actors below, as poster boys for lousy cosmetic surgery. While the After faces below aren’t the most damning of these two celebs, they do show how famous folks can change/ruin their faces with  surgery. 

  

Would you ever get surgery to correct a facial “imperfection?” To turn back the clock?

My latest book, PRIVILEGED KILLERS, is a true story about a half-dozen Dark Triad people in my everyday life - narcissists, manipulators, and psychopaths. Three of 'em murdered people, and one came after my wife and me. Print and e-book versions of this (and CLEFT HEART) available at Amazon and elsewhere online. Also at your local bookstore.