Ashley Judd Lashes Out Against Celebrity Body Snark

You might have noticed the recent internet furor over actress Ashley Judd's "puffy" face and whether it was another instance of injections gone awry, or as she says, "multiple rounds of steroids" thanks to illness. We can't blame you if you haven't, though. Paying attention to the varying puffiness of celebrity faces isn't the best way to spend your time.

The actress' recent response to the issue on The Daily Beast, however, is.

Proud and self-assured, Judd drills into the media and those who consume it for tearing apart womens' faces, bodies, and lives for the perceived crimes of aging, gaining weight, and all the other things human beings naturally do. She launches salvos against the open misogyny of websites that track stars' weight, the writers who call these beautiful women "pigs," and millions of readers who criticize celebs for growing wrinkles or washing them away with surgery. She notes that women entertain and perpetuate this misogyny as much as men (we would argue, more so) even as they fall victim to it. It's nothing we all don't already know, but it's a lot that we've never heard from a bona fide star before.

Now, Judd may not be the ideal spokesperson against female objectification in the media — she is, after all, famous and rich thanks to both her talent and the good looks God and top-paid stylists, beauticians, nutritionists, and perhaps even doctors gave her. Nonetheless, she's given us a good deal of meat to chew on here and it's definitely refreshing to see a Hollywood star attack the issue with teeth bared. (The Daily Beast)