THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND ADOLESCENT FANTASIES... SINKS

THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND ADOLESCENT FANTASIES... SINKS

I hate to pick on people's looks. I myself ain't exactly Tom Cruise, and I am constantly irritated by the otherwise funny Conan O'Brien's insistence on making his jokes about celebrities like Star Jones solely about their weight. Yes, I know he also calls himself a big-headed freak, but it’s still not right.

That said… did you see Farrah Fawcett on Late Night With David Letterman on Monday night, April 25? If ever proof was needed that Hollywood’s reliance on cosmetic surgery is a bad thing, there it was. Once a stunningly beautiful woman – and we’re not even talking about the figure that sold a million posters to college-aged geeks like me back in the 1970s – Ms. Fawcett looked like she had gone to the local barber college for her face work. I’m not talking about the once-a-day my spouse and I look at each other and say, "Oh, look at her eyes, she’s had work." This is a case where FEMA should have been called in after the surgery.

And I’m torn. I want to criticize her for being so vain, so stupid, so desperate, so silly. But I want to sympathize with her, because to her it was as essential as you or I going down to the local department store to buy a new suit for a job interview, and it clearly did not work. And now she’s stuck with it, looking like the next Joan Rivers (maybe worse). Plastic surgery is even helpful after disfiguring injuries, and I’d even say if one’s looks are such that they are affecting self-esteem, perhaps it’s worth it.

But geez.