The Girls Can't Help It ... Or Can They?

August 22, 2006

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If there were a Miss Manners who presided over the world of celebrity, I would want to ask her the following: Why is it that when stars get obvious plastic surgery, it’s considered rude for a journalist to ask about it? I remember a few years ago, when Meg Ryan was promoting In the Cut at the Toronto Film Festival. She had clearly just had something done yet no one asked about it. She’s sitting at a press conference and everyone in the room’s thinking, “What’s up with the fish lips?" but they’re not saying it to her face. Instead they ask, "What was it like to work with Jane Campion?" I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to do it -- in fact, I know I wouldn’t -- but someone should, shouldn’t they?

I think journalists hold back for a number of reasons: 1) if they alienate a certain star, their publicist will keep them away from their entire roster; 2) the interviewers themselves have had work done and don’t want to seem disingenuous. This happens on "Entertainment Tonight" almost nightly. Watching Jann Carl or Mary Hart asking someone like Dyan Cannon or Linda Evans for their thoughts on going under the knife is like playing emotional Jenga -- the whole charade could collapse at any moment. And 3) I think people don’t ask about it because it’s kind of a bummer. It’s a window into a certain kind of desperation and delusion, a bucket of crazy no one wants to drink from so we won’t talk about the fact that you now look like a wax figure of Marilyn Manson, Priscilla Presley.

Ashlee Simpson’s the latest example of this “don’t ask about my dramatically altered appearance and I won’t tell” policy. This summer, Ashlee decided to celebrate her sister Jessica’s return to single-dom by getting a divorce from her old nose. But has she commented on this change publicly? I haven’t seen anything. Are people asking about it to her face? I haven’t seen anyone do it. But it’s like someone showing up to an interview with a banana coming out of their ear and yet you’re not supposed to ask, “What’s up with the banana coming out of your ear?” Absurd.

I interviewed Ashlee just before the nose job for the cover of Marie Claire magazine. I thought she was fun and candid and not too full-of-it. For her “Marie Claire Challenge” Ashlee hung out with a group of L.A. high school girls.

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