SARA JESSICA PARKER:
The woman who refined what kind of life women were allowed to have. The woman who allowed us to dream of a life of glamour and escape the expectations placed upon women in their 20s, and 30s, all the way up to their 60s now! The woman who made me fall in love with the idea of natural hair. There was not a second that I ever considered this woman to be “ugly”, however scrutiny always finds its way to every woman. While SJP is undoubtedly every woman's style and lifestyle icon, Maxim voted her the "Unsexiest Woman Alive" in 2007. She was also compared to a horse, called a dog on Fox News, and was referred to as the ugliest actress in Hollywood. Today she is slammed for her natural aging and her refusal to color her grey hairs.
Absolutely uncalled for? Yes. Did it push her change any of her natural features?
Absolutely not. The actress shares that she simply just doesn’t want to, and yes that is a valid answer. Yet another reason to love Queen Carrie.
P!NK:
We all know and love her iconic VMA award speech dedicated to her daughter, and think to ourselves there’s no way this woman could ever be torn down by society. What an absolute legend.
However, in the start of her career, pop star was constantly villainised for her crass demeanour and hyper masculinity (all just code for bad assery and incredibly fit bod) in an era where women were still expected to be “ladylike” and thin. She recalls having her “feelings hurt all the time”, and shared that “It doesn’t feel good to hear mean things about yourself, but if you’re human, you’re going to hear it.”
Today she is a passionate advocate for self acceptance and continues to refuse to conform beauty standards that don’t align with her sense of self.
EMMA THOMPSON:
Emma is another woman who has been the victim of society’s cruelty. She recalls being deemed "not pretty enough" by male executives, specifically in nude scenes which costed her roles. However, she never let this criticism pressure her into changing her appearance. On the contrary, it fuelled her self love and desire to empower other women.
Off screen, the actress is an anti beauty standard warrior which makes us love her even more. She states that she has “always been a kind of card-carrying, militant feminist when it comes to women's bodies and what's been done to them, what we're told to expect of ourselves, what we're told to do to ourselves”.
VIOLA DAVIS:
Viola has so graciously opened up about her experiences as a woman of color both on screen and in real life. She acknowledged the ways in which people try to “erase” her existence and label her ugly stating, “being a dark-skinned black woman, you heard it from the womb”.
She also stated “As I went through my life, as much as I put on that mask of bravery, confidence, being that boss woman that people talk about… but inside was the damaged little girl that really, really believed that she was ugly, that she was not enough.”
Viola has also opened up about seeking therapy, and battling her inner demons to become a more confident version of herself. Anyone who knows Viola as an actress knows she is the epitome of strength, and represents dark skinned women on screen in ways previously thought unimaginable. She deserves a massive round of applause for her skills as well as her refusal to give into the pressure of society, and celebrating her natural beauty in a world that tried to break her.
2 Academy Awards, 10 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy Legend Award, 4 Primetime Emmy Awards, 4 Peabody Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and nine Golden Globes The. Barbara. Streisand. Who cares what she looks like???? You would think no one. But unfortunately, being a woman especially in the public eye, means the public deems themselves entitled to make cruel comments.
In a 1964 Time magazine cover story, her nose was referred to as a “shrine” that gave her face “the essence of a hound.” Her nose was also photoshopped without permission in photos as a “favour” to her, and she was constantly asked by her team and executives to do a rhinoplasty to “correct” her bump. However, Queen Streisand stuck to her guns, prioritising her talent above all else, worried that a nose job would affect her voice. And boy do we thank her for it.