Celebrities are constantly caught in rumor echo chambers — Is she pregnant? Did he go to rehab? Are they on the verge of divorce? — it's business as usual. But the hubbub surrounding accusations directed at Chinese actress and model Yeung Wing may have taken things too far.
The 26-year-old, who also goes by the stage name Angelababy, recently sued a Beijing clinic for defamation after it alleged she had plastic surgery. During the trial, a judge had her undergo a series of X-ray scans and physical examinations (including a doctor prodding her face, photos on China.com depict) to confirm she had not in fact gone under the knife. The verdict: according to hospital chief Qi Zuoliang, BBC News reports, Yeung's "entire head and facial bones do not have any signs of incisions." Sigh with us now.
This sounds all too familiar. Remember that time L'Oréal was accused of airbrushing an ad with Helen Mirren, the implications being that she couldn't look as good as she does — at the age that she is — without a little help from Photoshop? Or the great Kylie Jenner Lipliner-Versus-Plastic-Surgery debate of 2014. These incidents all have a similar theme: women being shamed for decisions they make regarding their own bodies — whether through makeup, surgery, or maybe just a great skin-care regimen.
But really, even if Yeung did choose to go under the knife, who gives a shit? Why is it any of our business and why are we still harping on women who choose to do so? Why should anyone have to go to such great and humiliating lengths in order to prove that she did or didn't?
So many questions, so few answers. But no matter how you try to spin or make sense of it, at the end of the day, haters gonna hate — and you just have to keep doing you, no matter what that incorporates.
Correction: Yeung Wing was referred to as “Wing” in an earlier version of this story; her surname is in fact Yeung.
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