"Women are not forgiven for ageing. Robert Redford's lines of distinction are my old-age wrinkles." --Jane Fonda

"Dieting has become the Western world's answer to Chinese foot-binding; institutionalised torture of women's bodies." --Professor Tom Sanders - Kings College London

"I think every young actress comes to a point in their life where you decide whether to subscribe to some sort of social standard of what you're supposed to look like. Aesthetics and artificiality make up such a huge part of the industry, so you can either go for that or choose to look the way you do.The body image stuff just obliterates women's self-esteem. I'm never going to be the thinnest girl in Hollywood, or the smartest, or the funniest, or the richest. I finally came to peace with that. You have to let go of that garbage if you're going to get anywhere.
It's so cool when I meet other actresses and know they don't give a rat's ass, either. That's why they'll be successful. You'll never be good if you're caught up in that."

--Reese Witherspoon

"I felt honestly, and I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, but I feel a lot of people kind of speak over me now that I am a brunette. For some reason I feel more confident. I feel like, I, myself, speak out a little bit more. As a brunette I feel more like myself. I feel a lot more comfortable. As a blonde... it wasn't like a conscious thing, like, oh, this is how I'm known, this is just the image for the typical girl of pop genre music to have this blonde hair. I loved being a blonde, but you know, it's just on a whim, I decided to colour my hair." --Mandy Moore

Liv Tyler was particularly grateful when the 15-month long Lord Of The Rings shoot wrapped - because she could get her curves back. The 5'10" actress had to keep her weight down to a medically unsafe 126 pounds while playing Arwen in the trio of fantasy films, but started piling on the pounds as soon as the New Zealand shoot finished - pumping up her weight by 28 pounds.
She says, "Now I'm fat but happy. I was sick and tired of starving myself to look thin. It was no fun. I feel more comfortable at this weight - and I'm enjoying my food. I don't care what people think. There shouldn't be a standard for how we all should look."


"'That's the thing I run up against: She's too pretty, she's the face of Revlon,' People think that if you look this way, you can't be downtrodden. They have this stereotyped image -- and it's nice to challenge stereotypes. I've had my fair share of ups and downs." --Halle Berry

"When I was going through my divorce I lost weight. My mom said, 'You look terrible.'But as with anyone else, losing weight was a point of pride. That is our whole society and especially the women in American culture have bad body image, and I don't think that is only the media's fault. I think it is a combination of everyone's fault, but not only because Kate Moss is on the cover of Vogue."
--Cindy Crawford

"The hardest thing to get is an understanding of who you are and what you're trying to achieve. You have to realize that the media isn't real, it's fantasy... it's created. The obsessions starts within unfortunately and the media feeds into it.
Detach yourself -- put down the magazines. That's what I've done. ... I did it when I was a teenager and when I was in my 20's. I feel equal to all young teens and women in the quest for truth about the world and what it's all about. Would I be as fit if I wasn't on TV... I don't know, since I am. All I know is that being fit makes me feel very good. I sleep better and I feel better about myself." --Jennifer Aniston

Marcia Gay Harden Told To Get Surgery
To Be A Success

Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden was warned she'd never be a success in Hollywood if she didn't alter the shape of her nose. The Pollock star was given the advice by a producer - who even recommended a surgeon to do the job.
Harden, 42, says, "He said, 'Unless you get it fixed, you will never work as an actress. He handed me a card that had a plastic surgeon's name on it." The budding young actress was devastated, but in the end, she simply refused to go under the knife.
She explains, "I went home and cried for a couple of hours. Then I got so angry, I decided I was going to 'show him' by hanging in there and not giving up."

The hard work paid off when Harden won the Best Supporting Actress award this year for her role in Pollock.

"In a way it's selfish, but it would be the worst thing I could do for my career.
If I take my clothes off for a magazine, it's like saying, 'Oh well, if I can't act
at least I can look good on the cover.' And I don't want to be that person." --Estella Warren- about choosing not to do modeling assignments such as a "provocative" cover
for Maxim magazine to promote Planet of the Apes

"Every one of us has something we consider to be not okay or to be
a deformity. We can consider ourselves deformed or we can see ourselves
as special. And that choice will determine how we live our lives." --Carol Price