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Jamie Lee Curtis knows a thing or two about the effects of plastic surgery and the pressure to be perfect — and the ramifications go far beyond shaky self-esteem.
“I tried plastic surgery and it didn’t work,” said Curtis in an interview with Fast Company. “It got me addicted to Vicodin. I’m 22 years sober now. The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty. Once you mess with your face, you can’t get it back.” (Related: This Photo Editing Has Gone Viral On Instagram — and, Yep, It’s Bad for Your Mental Health)
In a 2019 interview with The New Yorker, Curtis had shared that while filming the 1985 film Perfect, the actress overheard a cameraman say, “I’m not shooting her today,” referencing her puffy eyes, which left her feeling “mortified” and insecure. “Right after that movie I went and had an eye job,” recalled Curtis. “That’s when I found Vicodin, and the cycle of addiction began with that.”
Curtis had previously delved into her battle with opioid addiction in a 2018 interview with People, explaining, “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic. I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one.” The actress, 62, has a history of addiction in her family: Her father, screen legend Tony Curtis, was an alcoholic and abused cocaine and heroin; her half-brother, Nicholas, died from a heroin overdose in 1994.
Curtis also said in her 2018 interview with People that she had spent a decade hiding her addiction from her loved ones, even stealing pills from her own sister before attending her first recovery meeting in 1999. “I’m breaking the cycle that has basically destroyed the lives of generations in my family,” said Curtis. “Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment … bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children, and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything.”
Curtis has been married to actor-director Christopher Guest since 1984. They have two children together: Ruby and Annie.
In her Fast Company interview, Curtis also voiced strong opinions about the downside of social media and its impact on young people. (Related: Using These Instagram Filters Might Be a Sign of Depression)
“I use social media to sell things and amplify things I care about. Period. The rest is cancer,” said Curtis. “I never read one comment. I believe I can do my job and have a private life. I believe in the separation of church and state. I believe that I do not owe anybody anything once I’ve done my work. I am by nature a super-friendly person, but I also have a very clear boundary of what is appropriate and inappropriate for me to share.”
Curtis added that “there’s some remarkable good that has come from social media,” activism, specifically. “The best example is Greta Thunberg. I’ve been inspired watching the movement she created,” she told Fast Company. “It’s also very dangerous. It’s like giving a chainsaw to a toddler. We just don’t know the longitudinal effect, mentally, spiritually, and physically, on a generation of young people who are in agony because of social media, because of the comparisons to others. All of us who are old enough know that it’s all a lie. It’s a real danger to young people.” (Related: Facebook Knows You Better Than Your Best Friend)
That said, however, Curtis does endorse one particular form of serotonin-boosting social media.
“I do love watching wedding proposals on TikTok, like flash mob proposals,” she gushed. “I was in Hungary filming a movie, alone and far away from home, and I would just go back to my room and watch wedding proposals.”