Sigourney Weaver Talks Body Image and Plastic Surgery
December 27, 2009 in Beauty & Body Image, Celebrity Quotes by Versus
60 year-old actress Sigourney Weaver recently opened up about body image – source Daily Mail:
On insecurities:
‘I yearned to be the pretty one,’ she says, remembering herself as the child, who was bullied at school for being what she describes as ‘a too-tall beanpole’.
When she asked her mother if she thought she was pretty, she replied. ‘No dear, you’re just plain.’
‘That was… well, hard,’ recalls Sigourney. ‘I thought, “Gee, if your mum doesn’t even think you’re pretty…”
On Botox and plastic surgery:
Up close, her face is unashamedly etched with fine lines; there are no tell-tale signs of Botox or plastic surgery. ‘I find that look scary,’ she says, ‘And I like getting older. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than a woman in her 70s who’s full of life and and still useful. I never notice age in people’s faces. I just look at the whole person.’
See some more pictures of fabulous-over-50 Sigourney at the Avatar premieres after the jump!
My mom also said that I’m not pretty… I can’t understand how mothers can say that… Even if her child is the ugliest in the world, no mother should say he’s not pretty X-|
Btw, Sigourney looks amazing for her age!!!
It’s not that mothers don’t find their kids beautiful. Of course they do think their kids are the most beautiful. My mom also used to say I’m just plain, ordinary girl. Every time someone appreciated my appearance she usually replied something like ‘Oh, come on, there are much more attractive girls out there’. I also used to think I’m unattractive because it was really hard to know that your mom doesn’t think you’re pretty. But later, when I got older, she explained she wanted to protect me from vanity, as too much good words about one’s looks might spoil a person very quickly. Now I realise she did me a big favour, putting emphasis on some more important values than beauty.
And for being natural, of course. It’s clear she hadn’t her face done, good for her! She’s aging very gracefully. 
As for Sigourney, I admire her for being honest.
it’s a form a rejection to say “you’re just plain” – like you’re not good enough.
you should be perfect in your parents eyes.
There are a myriad of other ways to teach a child to value other facets of their being. You don’t have to devalue your child in order to do so.
You can emphasize the non physical merits of your child without having to call them plain or say that there are many more attractive people out there.
Couldn”t she have just responded by saying ‘Yes, but looks aren’t important’, or ‘you might be beautiful, but you have far greater qualities than that.
Saying that ‘there are far more attractive girls out there’ doesn’t put any less emphasis on looks, it just encourages comparison with other girls.
I understand that your mother was trying to protect you – but I think there are better methods.
I love these politically correct versions of what her mom should’ve said, and how fairytale-ish and ineffectual they are. Saying that there are better looking people will plant in your head that there are ALWAYS better looking people and therefore there’s no point in competing, but instead to invest in something else besides looks. Saying “yes but looks aren’t important” does close to nothing, because it’s an intellectual verbalization of the emotion when it’s supposed to be plain emotion. Hence why her version works.
That is fairytale-ish to you? Wow, where and by whom were you raised?
Did you just run from your Human Behavior class to share that little nugget of wisdom?
There will always be someone prettier, smarter, faster, better… should we then not compete in anything or try anything at all?
Or should we just encourage them to try their best and not solely focus on how they look.
I, and many other people were raised not to place an emphasis on looks, but not be being told that others were prettier, but by being reminded of and exposed to a wider variety of things that didn’t necessitate the use of looks and didn’t encourage vanity.
She looks like a white version of Michelle Obama. Facially, she does strike me as plain. She makes up for it with her statuesque figure. Hopefully, she embraces that.
I really like her views on aging. Coming from someone young, it annoys me to death when beautiful and mature women only aim to look as youthful as they can. Aging is a beautiful process.
looking good
I like your comment SKIRMUTE, I totally agree with you, eventhough the exact opposite thing happened to me : because women think their children are the most beautiful things in the world, they normally (I said normally) tell them they’re beautiful. I think and I know I was not beautiful when I was a child, I barely looked like the ‘plain type’, yet my mum kept saying I was very beautiful … but when I asked my friends they didn’t say anything so, and the other children would mock me (children are cruel, and I’m not saying this to attract sympathy, many ppl underwent that)…
The whole thing hurt me so much that one day I decided to change everything and now, I know I’ve turned into a beautiful woman. The thing is that I’ve focused so much on beauty, like Sigourney says ‘‘I yearned to be the pretty one”, that I tended to move away from the real important values … in a way, I may regret certain things.
In the end, I guess you can react in so many ways, it depends on ppl’s approach to beauty, (with what my mum would tell me, I could also have become way too self-confident and have turned into a real bitch haha)
Whoa her mom is such a bitch!
Wow, considering you never knew the woman that’s a fairly loaded comment.
There are far more important things in this world for a woman to be beyond beautiful. I’m not good looking and I still breathe. In fact i’m ugly. Women need to get over their obsession with beauty and find something else to define themselves.
i agree.
complete bitch.
i would never say that to a child, never mind my own.
Omg!! I can’t believe her mom said that! My mom keeps telling me i’m beautiful whenever she cans et she’s glad to hear people telling me that too! Why? Because a Mom loves their kids so much.. of course she’s going to find them amazing!
She looks pretty good for her age! Especially without botox..
When your mother says “u’r beautyful” it’s priceless, it gives u a good start, it’s a kind of root that helps you to be more confident ( besides most of the time your mother sees Beyond the outside beauty, she sees you as a whole) , there is nothing to see with vanity I’m sorry. It’s like saying to your child, “you gone a succed don’t worry you’r the best, or you’r intelligent” … It helps you to build somethg not to become arrogant.
It wasn’t my case. If my mother would have told me, you’r plain (or you should lose weight or something) It would have been wrenching.
I mean she is here to love you and support you and she’s the only one to do that. All I saying is that It has helped me : I’m 27, I fell great with my image, I’m a lawyer now (I’m french btw so please do not comment my grammar…) and I don’t come from a rich family and I’m black (yes it’s important) without a mother telling me time to time you’r “Great” you’r “beautyful” “you’re special” …. I would not have been confident enough to do things because life is hard enough there is no need to add a difficulty.
Voilà I reallly wanted to add that.
At some point I agree with you, but mothers choose their own ways how to upbring their children. My mom always was very supportive when I felt down and tried to encourage me and enhance my self esteem in some respects.
)
Despite the fact that my mother didn’t put emphasis on beauty, didn’t say I’m pretty or whatever, I consider myself successful just like you do, nellynel (BTW, we’re colleagues
So I guess everything depends on the particular situation…
I love Sigourney Weaver. I think she’s an attractive woman, and I’m glad she doesn’t think she needs botox or plastic surgery to be beautiful.
And a side note: Avater was one of the best cinematic adventures since Harry Potter.
Amen, Sigourney. Not everyone is into levitational breasts and faces that can’t smile from too much botox. There’s something beautiful about a woman who has allowed herself to age gracefully, especially by eating right and just enjoying life in a safe way. I love her comments. If I could still be as peppy an d as lively as the Golden Girls were in their hit show, hell, I’ll be happy.
Good for her. I thought she was beautiful in Avatar.
Agreed. Her avatar was the cutest.
I allways loved her and i will do for now on, for her’s talent to be an actress and for her character.
I think… To play in such movies (Avatar and Alien: Resurrection (1997 – she was 48 years old)) and make a very good role she must have a great talent.
She looks good at 60!
She looks great! Just say no to botox. It’s nice to see an older celebrity that still looks human.
Kudos to Weaver for allowing herself to age naturally. She looks graceful indeed!