ONTD

10:09 pm - 08/09/2012

Kelly Ripa Gets Botox: Why Can't Women Age on TV?

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Kelly Ripa has just come out and said it: "I get Botox injected right here, right into my forehead as much as possible!"

Her candor during a recent In Touch interview was refreshing, but the fact that she's filled with fillers wasn't surprising.

Kelly is a 41-year-old working mother of three who looks like she just returned from beach volleyball camp. "Good genes" is not really what's behind this ability to reverse nature. With a reported $20 million contract with ABC, keeping her promise to remain "perky and blond" means signs of aging are treated like infectious diseases.

And for women on TV, especially on the morning circuit, wrinkles and grays left untreated could kill their careers.

"I've decided not to buy into the idea that I want to stop aging," Ann Curry prophetically told Ladies Home Journal, in an interview she gave moments before she was replaced on The Today Show by a woman 15 years younger. "My wrinkles connect me to my family, to my ancestors and to my future. This is how my father looked when he was my age."

Lack of chemistry with Matt Lauer (more evident during their icy reunion at the Olympics on Thursday) and her cerebral delivery better suited for evening news, was the ostensible reason for her departure. But then there's this: "I've got gray hair because I won't dye it."

Fellow former couch colleague Meredith Vieira had gone gray too, but she got the requisite youthful color makeover when she started as host of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.

When she landed that job, Vieira claims she was told: "We don't want you coming in with gray hair, we want you to look polished and color your hair." So she did. By the time she was hosting The Today Show she was neck deep in hair dye. "I want to think that if I weren't doing these two jobs I'd let it grow out, because it's a pain in the neck," she confessed in an interview with Ladies Home Journal before she handed her couch seat to Curry. Vieira also felt subtle pressure on the job to get cosmetic surgery, which she ultimately avoided.

Meanwhile, Today Show's fourth hour co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb do it all, and on camera. Earlier this year they got Botox, eyebrow lifts, and a slew of other medical treatments all on an episode of the show. For them, unlike Katie Couric who long evaded the question of her personal anti-aging regimen, transparency is in. It's okay for women on TV admit to hair color and Botox as long as they're getting it done.

The opposite is true for men. Anderson Cooper's premature graying gave him gravitas as a young reporter. And Matt Lauer's receding salt and pepper buzz-cut partnered with his crows feet helps to enhance his anchor credibility. But as his age continues to show, Lauer's couch-mates get markedly younger, blonder and 'perkier' (a favored descriptor of women on morning shows).

For now Curry's replacement, 40-year-old Savannah Guthrie, is keeping her beauty secrets to herself. But there's no hiding TV's dirty little secret.

When male anchors show their age, they get a younger female co-host. When female anchors show their age, they get replaced.

Source
yolleh 10th-Aug-2012 09:57 am (UTC)
I'm always surprised by how everyone ~hates~ it too.
Idk about them but I love being mistaken.
thelovegetaway 10th-Aug-2012 11:18 am (UTC)
yeah same

my friend always complained that people thought she was 12 but judging by the amount of times she brought it up herself i think she secretly like it
fancypiink 10th-Aug-2012 08:12 pm (UTC)
lol i figure they're pretending and actually bragging while completely loving being 45 and getting mistaken for 16.
stupidaquarius 10th-Aug-2012 09:03 pm (UTC)
tbh when it's under 18 or at the very worst under 16 i think it gets kinda embarrassing. why would you want to look 12 if you want to be taken seriously

i'm 23 and i remember once trying to hit on a really cute guy once – who ended up being actively creeped out because he thought I was frickin' 13
yolleh 11th-Aug-2012 09:47 am (UTC)
I admit, in situations like that it is very annoying. I hate getting IDed all the time and having to practically fight to prove I am 18 even with my drivers licence in hand.

Still though, I consider it a happy woe. I look at some other people who I went to school with and wonder what on earth happened to them!

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