Should Julie Chen Feel Bad About Westernizing Her Look?

News
By Mack Rawden
published

Earlier this week, Big Brother host Julie Chen opened up about her past with plastic surgery during a segment on The Talk. Apparently, as a twenty-five-year-old, she made the decision to surgically open her eyes to try and advance her career as a newswoman. The emotional reveal was met with sympathy from her co-hosts and the members of the audience, but today, it has caused quite a bit of controversy among the general public.

The story goes like this: during the beginning of her career in Ohio, she was told by her boss that she’d never appear as more than a reporter because her eyes made her look disinterested and less than empathetic during interviews. This made her self-conscious about her eyes and her career prospects, a problem only made worse after she talked to a high profile agent who told her the same thing. After getting into more than a few fights with female members who were deeply divided on the issue, she made the decision to have the surgery, and she’s never talked about it publically until earlier this week.

On the one hand, it’s easy to see why she decided to listen to the advice and get the surgery. There are more than a few women in Hollywood who got plastic surgery while they were trying to get famous, and considering her career took off almost immediately after having the surgery, it’s really hard to think she acted inappropriately. The goal is to get ahead, and that’s exactly what she did.

On the other hand, however, it’s not difficult to understand why there’s so much outrage. As a society, we’re trying to get to the point where differences are accepted. We teach our children to love themselves, regardless of what color their skin might be. Unfortunately, when people alter their appearance to make themselves look less like a certain race, it can have the affect of teaching the exact opposite.

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Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.