Jamie Lee Curtis Got plastic surgery at 25 after a movie maker refused to film her saying: ‘I am not shooting her because her eyes are baggy’
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis has revealed how a cruel jibe from a filmmaker pushed her into getting plastic surgery when she was still only 25 years old.
The actress says the experience left her with physical, emotional, and addictive consequences that lasted for years. Speaking candidly to America’s 60 Minutes, Curtis recalled the moment on the set of the 1985 film Perfect that changed her relationship with her body and career forever.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not shooting her today. Her eyes are baggy.’ And I was 25, so for him to say that, it was very embarrassing,” Curtis said. “So as soon as the movie finished, I ended up having some plastic surgery.” The movie, directed by James Bridges and co-starring John Travolta, featured Curtis as an aerobics instructor opposite the leading man’s investigative journalist.
Though she took the role seriously, it was the behind-the-scenes body shaming that stuck with her. Curtis says the procedure didn’t go well, nor did the aftermath. “That’s just not what you want to do when you’re 25 or 26,” she said. And I regretted it immediately and have kind of regretted it since.”
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The A Fish Called Wanda star, now 66, said the pressure to conform to Hollywood’s beauty standards came at a steep personal cost. What began with cosmetic surgery soon led to a dependency on painkillers. “I became very enamoured with the warm bath of an opiate,” Curtis added.
“You know, drank a little bit… never to excess, never any big public demonstrations. I was very quiet, very private about it, but it became a dependency for sure.”
Her struggle with addiction would follow her for years. In 2021, Curtis revealed in an interview with Fast Company that the surgery led directly to her dependence on Vicodin. “I tried plastic surgery and it didn’t work. It got me addicted to Vicodin,” she said. “I’m 22 years sober now.” Curtis is now a vocal advocate for body acceptance and a staunch critic of society’s fixation on altered appearances. “
“I’ve become a really public advocate to say to women, you’re gorgeous and you’re perfect the way you are. So yeah, it was not a good thing for me to do,” she said. She also spoke out against the current trends in cosmetic procedures and social media filters.
“The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty,” she added. “Once you mess with your face, you can’t get it back.”
Curtis has often drawn from her own experience to help others on their path to recovery. During the filming of Freaky Friday in 2003, she had been sober for just nine months but created a safe space on set for others dealing with addiction.
“I put a big sign up by the catering truck, and it said, ‘Recovery meeting in Jamie’s trailer every day,’” she told Variety in 2019. “I left the door open and didn’t know if anybody would show up. We ended up calling it the Mobile Home Recovery Meeting.”
Curtis said the group became a powerful support system. “It was probably my favourite grouping of sobriety that I’ve ever participated in. I’ve participated in groups all over the world, but there was something about the cross section of ages and genders and jobs and races, and it was profound.”
Growing up as the daughter of Hollywood legends Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Curtis also reflected on the pressures of beauty and ageing in the spotlight.
She recalled watching both of her parents undergo cosmetic procedures and struggle with the slow decline of career opportunities.
“I watched their work diminish, I watched their fame not diminish. And the contradiction of a lot of fame, but not a lot of work, is really hard to navigate for people,” she said. “For the rest of your life, you’re famous for something you did a long time ago, and you chase that attention.”
Source: Mirror
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