Stiff Words: "Botox? I think it's fantastic and also horrible," actress Courteney Cox says in the November issue of Marie Claire. "I mean, they've come up with this stuff that can make you not look angry. But you have to use it sparingly. I went to this doctor once, and he was like, 'Oh, let me do it just here and here and here.' And I was miserable...I mean, I'm an actor, I've got to be able to move my face." Her feet, however, are another story. [Us]
It's going to take more than a major economic crisis to keep women from their Botox appointments, say dermatologists who have seen absolutely no slowdown in business. The same goes for high-end skincare products, which have witnessed an increase in sales compared to the same time period last year. How could this be possible, you ask? "Women have a basic belief that they save on the things they have to buy in order to spend on the things they want to buy," opines an ad exec who works on beauty accounts. "It's like men and booze." And even easier to conceal: Whereas it's obvious what a man's been spending his money on when he arrives home slurring and smelling like a bar, a woman might have thousands of dollars worth of injections but no one has to know. "Most husbands," says plastic surgeon Robert Guida, "don't pay attention to what their wives look like."
Have you heard about the salon in Midtown that offers Botox in 30 minutes or less? SmoothMed has been open for more than a year now, but if you're interested in seeing how some New Yorkers spend their lunch breaks, the video is after the jump. Now you know why your boss occasionally comes back to the office in the afternoon with a puffy face and she's also unable to express any emotion.
Click to viewBoomp3.com Die hard Beatles and botox fan Sharon Stone washed away the drama of the week’s events with a nice tall glass of Pellegrino at lunch with a friend on Thursday. Stone believed it was perfect okay to have a glass of the Italian mineral water with her meal. Stone said, “One glass isn’t going to kill me. If anything, it’s going to make me healthier with all those minerals and stuff.” [Photo Credit: Flynet] *A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.
Denials: Sharon Stone would like you to know that she would never, ever let her son bogart her Botox! "This week it was reported in connection with Sharon Stone's custody dispute that she wanted to have her young 8 year-old son undergo Botox treatment at this time for his feet," said her attorney Martin Singer to Entertainment Tonight. "Sharon Stone never made this statement. It is a complete fabrication. Sharon loves her son Roan and only wants the best for him." That, Singer added, is why the actress has scheduled a chemical peel for Roan before class pictures. [ET]
When Sharon Stone lost custody of her eight-year-old son Roan last week, we were surprised; yes, the actress has had an erratic year that involved blaming "karma tectonics" for the death of 7,000 Chinese, but sole custody is rarely awarded to the father in these cases. Could it have been Stone's new relationship with a greasy 24-year-old that turned the legal tide against her, or was it something more? According to TMZ, which obtained the court's "Tentative Statement of Decision," it was a whole range of factors, though all may pale in comparison to the smoking gun proffered by ex-husband Phil Bronstein: that Stone wanted to Botox her son.
Celebrity dermatologist Nicholas Perricone—who has become as well-known for his scandalously acrimonious divorce as for his shtick that eating salmon keeps wrinkles at bay—is concerned about the popularity of Botox and fillers. No, it's not that their effectiveness makes his potential customers much less likely to pay outrageous sums for his skincare products, perish the thought. It's just that cosmetic procedures "all cause inflammation and trauma and I'm not sure this is the best strategy for maintaining a youthful face. The problem with science is that there's a flavor of the month and people get excited, and a lot of it is driven by economics." Whereas he is driven solely by an altruistic desire to help people look pretty, and if that means building a multimillion dollar cosmeceuticals empire and writing bestsellers, well, so be it.
It's not clear which is the greater mystery: Why women flock to dermatologist-to-the-stars Fredric Brandt when his wildly askew aesthetic judgment is displayed on his smooth, shiny visage for all the world to see, or why the good doctor himself chooses to ignore the evidence of his own mirror to self-administer amounts of botox and fillers that, he admits, would require a payment plan were he not getting them at cost. As a journalist discovers when she spends a day at Brandt's East 34th Street clinic, these are not questions that trouble the patients—27 in a typical 10-hour day—who joyfully submit to multiple injections, lasers, and Brandt's more-is-better attitude.
Dermatologist/socialite Lisa Airan didn't snag a mention in New York's cover story on facial plastic surgery a couple of weeks ago, but when the mainstream media shuts you out, you can always deliver the message straight to the people. Airan just uploaded her reel of media appearances to YouTube, a useful reminder that she speaks to a reporter every other day, on average. Follow along as Airan explains why she's not concerned about the economy: Her patients are so high-end, she says, they can afford to keep Botoxing no matter what. We're not sure just how many high-end prospects are trolling YouTube to find their next doctor (especially since so many of the existing videos are by cosmetic docs in third world countries) but judge for yourself after the jump.
It's pretty sweet to be a famous ex-athlete when the Olympics roll around: Apparently, it's when companies eagerly offer lucrative sponsorship deals to sports personalities, even if they're long retired. Mark Spitz, for example, is making seven figures this year from endorsing Botox; manufacturers Allergan think that the 58-year-old will appeal to their target demo. Also, if a presumably health-conscious former swimmer is willing to inject his face with deadly poison, it must be OK!
A reporter named Kate Spicer, who writes for the UK Times, came to New York to research cosmetic procedures, a journey that, naturally, involved an encounter with Fredric Brandt, the Manhattan/Miami dermatologist most famous for treating Madonna and for being, as Spicer aptly puts it, "jaw-dropping evidence of what happens when cosmetic dermatologists get high on their own supply." (He's pictured here with Lisa Falcone, the wife of hedge fund mogul Phil Falcone.) Brandt has a minor hissy fit when he discovers she's had Botox and Sculptra injections from another (non-famous, gasp!) doc the evening before, but administers more Botox and Restylane anyway. Hey, you don't get to be a derm-to-the-stars by turning down international press over a minor affront like that, do you?
If you ever selected a plastic surgeon or LASIK doctor based on a random YouTube video, it's probably apt that that video only happened as a result of an under-the-table payment and the doctor was really incompetent and now you walk around blind and ugly. But what about the victims of the future? Plenty of doctors have gone right ahead and offered patients rebates or huge discounts in exchange for posting glowing videos about their procedures online, although something like that would be patently unethical in the "regular" media. Docs are like, "Huh, rules, really? I just thought it would be nice!" Patients are like, "Sweet, cheap surgery!" The loser is you, the affluent, narcissistic consumer. A couple of typical videos are after the jump; just because "a famous celebrity (name undisclosed for privacy)" gets LASIK from Dr. Feinerman doesn't mean you have to, too:
A story in Sunday's LAT did the unthinkable by finally pointing out the big Botoxed elephant in the room: no matter how painfully obvious it is to viewers, many stars who get nipped and tucked insist on denying it. But as the Times argues, just how many episodes of this season's Dancing With The Stars or Desperate Housewives can we sit through before drawing our own conclusions? Have you seen Priscilla Presley lately? And if celebrities are going so far as to undergo actual "head transplants," when will they finally start fessing up? We took a look at a few of the stars in question, such as Teri Hatcher and Carrie Fisher, to innocently throw some visual evidence into the mix.
The Columbia Journal Review kinda hates everything on the cable news networks, but we have to hand it to them—today's MSNBC interview with author Ben Shapiro does reach a new and impressive low. Shapiro wrote a book called Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House. This sounds like a man whose expertise on the political process should be celebrated on a national cable network! Contessa Brewer sat down with Ben and reinforced every single unfair negative stereotype about the vacuity of campaign coverage in something like two minutes. BREWER: "The only woman running in this case, Hillary Clinton, I was watching the debate the other night, looking at her beautiful skin, wondering if she's had any work done because I know that Botox and chemical peels and laser work and a little nip-tuck can make a world of difference." Ben, for those keeping score at home, doesn't think injecting botulism toxin into her forehead to temporarily hide signs of emotion and age would necessarily be such a bad idea for the 60-year-old senator. BREWER: "Ben, I think you're too young to know about Botox. I love the Botox. Next, we have an update on some reported UFO sightings..." [CJR]
At last, "The Golden Compass" is out, and while it's getting decidedly mixed-to-meh reviews, Nicole Kidman is coming out on top! She's so untouchable! "For once, the smooth planes of her face, untroubled by visible lines, serve the character," says Mahnola Dargis. She's... life-like! "As embodied by Kidman, Mrs. Coulter is tall and composed and as cold and scary as a movie star," says Mick LaSalle. She's possibly animatronic! "A working forehead isn't required here. In fact, Kidman's resemblance to some sort of demented Barbie doll actually works in her favor," says Sara Stewart. [Photo: AP/Peter Kramer]
The date: October 22, 2007
The place: Mercer Street
Sighted: Walking north on Mercer street right now with a short grey-haired man. Dressed rather oddly for the weather—- big work boots and snow hat. Taller, and more Botoxed, than expected.
