Laura Dern Speaks Out Against Ageism in Hollywood with Strong Words

Laura Dern is not complying with ageism on social media and in Hollywood. The actress sat down with The Independent to promote her new film, Is This Thing On?. She reflected on the rise of cosmetic procedures to hide signs of aging and people’s general backlash against visible signs of age.

“Lately, I have never seen more shame around ageing and women as public figures,” she remarked.

She gave the example of her close friend Sheryl Crow, who she recently met and marveled over: “More badass than ever. She sounds better. She’s hotter than ever! And yet, [we’re still hearing] this old story of needing to hide or fix all the stuff that shows our wisdom,” she noted.

Her co-star Andra Day agreed, stating, “I’m doing away with the social rules of what you’re supposed to be doing at this age. I’m not going to do any of the shrinking that people or society have required of me. I’m going to break the rules, actually.”

Day added how social media and newer cosmetic procedures make people more unforgiving towards signs of aging. “But it’s so much worse now than for my mother’s generation,” she sighed. “I remember, when I was a child, hearing her friends talk about the pressure at 70 to get a facelift if you wanted to keep working.”

Day also noted how younger generations are more critical: “Now I’m hearing my 21-year-old daughter’s friends say, ‘You should get Botox now so that you’re never wrinkled.'”

“Preventative Botox!” Day remarked.

“It’s tragic!” declared Dern.

The Academy Award winner also argued that preventative botox is just another trick to make girls buy more products. “So the idea that we’re advancing in empowerment is bats***,” she said, “And these are societal norms created from people’s fears and insecurities. And it’s all consumerism, right?… We should not be buying into it, right?”

She concluded, “I look forward to watching all of us grow together into comfort in our own skin.”

Is This Thing On?, directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Laura Dern opposite Will Arnett, is now in cinemas.