Marie Claire: A Model Carps, We Cringe

We apologize for the hiccup in our coverage yesterday.  Would you believe that we were so upset by the February issue of Marie Claire that we couldn’t stop crying long enough to face the keyboard?  No?  Okay.  But we were troubled by this bit about 41-year-old model Paulina Porizkova in “Gorgeous—At Any Age”:

When Paulina Porizkova moans, “No one flirts with me anymore,” photographer Alexei Hay smiles, knowing everyone in his studio has flirted with her all day, and the beauty icon is just being her ballsy old self.

Let’s not even get into why a word that means “gutsy” refers to male genitalia.

Sorry, but we fail to see what, exactly, is so brave about Porizkova’s comment.  Is it the flat-out lying?  Is it the vanity so extreme that she whines when no one—“not even cab drivers,” she says—notices her beauty? 

What’s truly bold here—and, yes, truly appalling—is the audacity to complain that her beauty is “being taken away” when that apparently fading beauty still pays the bills.    She’s doing a photo shoot for a major magazine, and she thinks no one notices that she’s a beautiful woman?  Cry us a river, Paulina.

Even more nervy is that Marie Claire follows that diva fit with “What I Love About Me,” wherein non-models discuss their best features.  If the magazine is so keen on women accepting themselves—a worthy campaign, to be sure—they ought to spare us the supermodels caterwauling about their looks.

Comments

[Stunt Girl]

Beautiful or skinny women complaining they are ugly/fat gets right on my nerves. When in a group of friends we complain about our weight (as us women so often do!) and even the most svelte one pipes up with some complaint of her slim size 8 figure to join in the conversation, it doesn't make her one of us. It just annoys us.

[aubergine aileron]

Stunt girl, skinniness is no guarantee of beauty. I'm a size 6, but I have bad skin and small breasts, and from the amount of attention I get as a woman, you'd think I'd been spayed. Thin people have just as much right to whine about their figure flaws as anyone, though I admit that models and actresses are pushing it. Shouldn't they be discussing these issues with their stylists, makeup artists, and personal trainers?

[chloe]

Size 8 is definitely not slim...and size 6 is pushing it! Size 4 is thin, size 2 is skinny, size 0 is ridiculous

[rolleyes]

Chloe -- first of all, you have no idea what country people are in. Size 32 It is the same as size 4 US.

Second, your comments are harsh and unkind to both larger and smaller women. Do something with your mouth to prevent yourself from talking before you think; stop the self-hate, and sit down and really THINK about what you just said.