Celebrity Implants: What is All the Fuss About?

Why are people interested in which movie and television stars have breast implants?  Probably – at least in part – for the same reasons that people are interested in knowing about celebrities in general: they respect their work and want to know more about them either for their own interest or to be able to sound knowledgeable about pop culture at a party.  However, unlike other types of Hollywood gossip, there seems to be some sensitivity about the topic of breast implants. Famous women seem to either adamantly deny that they have breast implants – Tyra Banks even went so far as to have a plastic surgeon check for implants with an ultrasound machine while doing a show on the air – or actively advertise that they have undergone augmentation mammoplasty. This brings up the question, “What about the boob job is striking a nerve with famous women?”

The answer might come from an unlikely place – professional sports.  There is a similar controversy surrounding the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in competitive sporting events like baseball.  Do breast enlargement with saline or silicone gel implants and other cosmetic procedures offer women an “unfair” way of making it big?  In other words, when celebrities deny that they have implants – and Mila Kunis, Katy Perry, Jessica Simpson, and even Sarah Palin have all done so – are they really saying, “My beauty is natural and I made it to the top on my own merits”?  After all, many successful women – at least those who are given the most airtime on TV and the screen – are radiantly beautiful; although male actors can sometimes get away with only an attractive personality, few female actors are given such an opportunity. If that’s true, it would also explain why there seems to be such interest in exposing who is “real” and who is “fake” on the screen or in other prominent areas like business and politics.  It would also explain why so many women – like Victoria Beckham – have denied their implants so adamantly.

Does this jealousy of “unnaturally” beautiful women also carry over into our everyday lives?  Is part of the reason there is such interest in celebrity plastic surgery because the average woman feels more comfortable knowing that the females her husband or boyfriend drools over during a date night at the movies are as fake as the plot line?  After all, any woman could look like a star with the advantage of a skilled plastic surgeon and millions of dollars.  This attitude does seem to have transferred into the minds of casting directors as evidenced by Disney’s casting call for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie (On Stranger Tides).  Among the explicit requirements for anyone hoping to audition for the leading female role was the clear directive: “Do not submit if you have implants.”  The producers even warned that women would be required to prove they did not have implants before being selected for the part.

But on the other side of the coin are famous women who are more than happy to tell you about their implants.  It was no secret, for example, that former Miss California Carrie Prejean got implants a few weeks before she was to compete in the Miss USA event.  The Miss California committee even paid the costs of the surgery for her.  After all, image matters in a beauty competition, and other women may go to other extreme lengths (like extreme dieting) for success.  Why not optimize your body if you are able to do so?  Especially in a world where many people make judgments about a person based on their appearance, it only makes sense that women, celebrities included, would want to look their best. Many of the “real housewives” of different cities have also openly discussed their plastic surgery; in some ways, surgically enhanced beauty then functions as a status symbol because no one on a tight budget could splurge on breast augmentation or other procedures.  Heidi Montag has also been very open about her implants, even admitting to choosing implants that were too large for her (size G) and deciding to downgrade to a size more realistic for her body.  Singer Kelly Rowland also has spoken out positively about her choice to get implants, suggesting that she wishes she had done it sooner.

Like make up, which is an almost universal way of unnaturally enhancing beauty, breast implants are a way to help a woman – celebrity or not – feel more confident in her own body; maybe celebrities and other women who are so worried about being “found out” had the procedure done for exactly the wrong reason – to please someone other than themselves.  Perhaps the moral of the story is that it’s really not anyone else’s business what a woman chooses to do to increase her confidence and self-esteem.