The wages of beauty are loneliness
Marianne Macdonald says that the crazy bounty nature bestows on gorgeous women can be a curse: a recipe for low confidence and solitary distrust
Jennifer Lopez, when I interviewed her in New York, was married to a sweet backing dancer and falling for Ben Affleck; Mariah Carey was tumultuously divorced and on the brink of her breakdown; Elle Macpherson was shortly to part with her partner of nine years, the financier Arki Busson; Emmanuelle Béart was single, Diane Kruger divorced, Inés Sastre about to divorce and Sienna Miller was on the verge of meeting Jude Law, with the car crash that followed.
All these women had a startling power that underpinned their iconic beauty, their womanliness, their compelling charm. Their beauty didn’t, necessarily, make them more confident. Interviewing them could be tricky. They would do one of two things: glow like a bonfire or snap shut like a crab. There was little to choose on this front between the supermodels and the stars, though the supermodels, as if they had soldered some long-forgotten crack in their heart, were the hardest to reach.
Their difficulty was the contrast between their mythic public image and internal reality, and the inexorable pressure of time on the two. Christensen’s gorgeousness, for example, was heartbreaking. Her looks held a quality of surprise: you kept looking at her face, wanting to double check that that astounding beauty was still there, that you hadn’t made it up. It seemed beyond absurd she was single. ‘But I don’t look in the mirror and go, “Oh God!”’ she observed rather wryly. ‘I see the same as everyone else. “Oh my God, my hair is so dry: I need to put a hair masque in.” Some days you’re like, “S***, what happened? It’s all going downhill!”’ Emmanuelle Béart was blunter about being a famous beauty. ‘I feel like it’s too much responsibility!’ she exclaimed. When I asked Macpherson if she felt like her nickname The Body, she gave an almost cynical laugh. ‘God, no! At the moment I feel like my nickname is The Mother! My life is really quite domesticated now. I’m not drifting off to parties any more in short dresses and high-heeled shoes and mile-high hair.’
More articles from: Marianne Macdonald | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Amid the financial turmoil, Peter versus George is the key battle
Fraser NelsonStand by for a mighty clash between two politicians, says Fraser Nelson. The now infamous dinner between Mandelson and Osborne was a cordial parting for power-brokers of different generations who will fight each other savagely for electoral advantage
Maybe Polanski was right to flee America
P.G. MorganP.G. Morgan goes in search of the truth about the great director’s flight from the US courts — and uncovers some uncomfortable truths worthy of a scene in Chinatown
An evening with the Muslim Facebook crew
Sarfraz ManzoorSarfraz Manzoor celebrates an iftar meal with homeless people and his fellow Muslims, a web-generated ‘flashmob’ observing an Islamic tradition of generosity to the needy
Strictly Come Dancing is not the BBC’s core broadcasting
Rod LiddleRod Liddle — a former editor of the Today programme — says that the Corporation must stop pretending to be democratic if it is to keep the licence fee. Unashamed elitism is the only chance that the Beeb has in the new media world
Only Abba can save the world financial markets
Martin Vander WeyerMartin Vander Weyer says that the collapse in the markets reflects a loss of confidence that is out of proportion to all reason: a trip to Mamma Mia! is the answer to this hysteria
If Miliband becomes PM, I’ll join the right-wing coup to topple him
Rod LiddleRod Liddle is outraged by the Foreign Secretary’s alleged comparison of himself to Michael Heseltine: like comparing a Big Beast to a stumpy little Muntjac deer. Where have all the political giants gone?
IQ2 debate — Paths to Peace: proposals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Lloyd EvansIn at the deep end.
‘I’m not an ambassador for New Labour, I’m an MP’
Martin RowsonIn the latest of his occasional series, Martin Rowson talks to Bob Marshall-Andrews, serial Labour rebel who had the entertaining cheek to accuse Miliband of disloyalty
The tightrope walk and the terrorists
Sarfraz ManzoorSarfraz Manzoor talks to Philippe Petit, whose stunning walk between the Twin Towers in 1974 is the subject of a new film — and discovers the mirror image of the horrors of 9/11
I fell helplessly in love with Christine Hamilton
Martin RowsonIn the second of an occasional series, Martin Rowson interviews Neil and Christine Hamilton. To his alarm, the arch-satirist finds himself warming to the disgraced couple
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus or sky hd.
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus...
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Kevin
January 31st, 2008 8:22pmYou need a control group to test your hypothesis that exceptional beauty makes a woman a loser in the marriage stakes. Secondly, your view of marriage seems implicitly to pre-date Henry VIII. I have no objection to that, but I wonder if non-Catholic women genuinely aspire to lifelong marriage. In other words, is relationship breakdown merely a self-fulfilling philosophy of life? (If you believe marriage is a non-binding commitment, are you likely to make the effort to rationally seek a credible lifelong partner?). Finally, in establishing who is and who is not happily married, one has to bear in mind the observation made by Athenian lawgiver Solon to the fabulously wealthy King Croesus of Lydia, which may be paraphrased as follows: "One can only know if a woman was truly blessed when she is dead", because of course, at any moment up to that point it can all go pear-shaped (as it did for Croesus).
Sheila
January 31st, 2008 10:36pmWhat on earth is this article doing in The Spectator? Did Hello! or People turn it down?
D Short
February 1st, 2008 3:31amThe Spectator continues to go downhill. What a lot of celebrity drivel! How can a formerly serious, witty and well-written magazine publish such puerile trash?
Tim Jenkins
February 2nd, 2008 8:59pmThe previous two comments are endorsed by this one. Oy vey.
Pablo Escobar
February 14th, 2008 11:31amRegardless of whether these beautiful women are temporarily single, or coming out of a "bad" relationship, they are still better off than the ugly people with who will never find a partner. For example, I'm a 20 year old who's never had a gf, and is unlikely to have one due to my lack of good looks and shyness. So the premise of this article is faulty -- you start from the assumption that celebrities are suffering in their relationships, when in fact their lives are a million times better than the average geek. The average geek can only dream of a relationship, whereas these good looking celebrities are just finding it difficult to find the RIGHT KIND of relationship. Big deal.