By: Suki Kramer
I recently read an interview with Meryl Streep in Vanity Fair…OMG she is always such an incredible inspiration to me. When I see her give a speech, with that super comfortable, witty, vulnerable, wise presence & the remarkably intelligent, evolved things she always manages to say, she is who I hope to become…& I better get going!
Streep has never gone under the knife & in fact refuses. Someone in the article said what I’ve been saying too, that as you grow older, if you hang on to certain parts of yourself to look younger, you miss out on other stages of life, trying to stop time is detrimental to your emotional growth & a futile way to look at life in general.
Streep says of plastic surgery, “it’s like an interruption in communication with them, like a flag in front of the view & that for an actor, it’s like wearing a veil, it’s not a good thing.”
On the same day I came across an interview with Julia Roberts & hope I don’t someday have to eat my words if I find out she’s ever had plastic surgery or was addicted to the needle…but they asked her some questions I’d like to repeat cause her answer was cool:
they asked, how do you define beauty?
“…to see a person who is present in their joy is the most beautiful thing. I think that’s why our children are all so luminescent – they just exist in the moment of joy.”
Unfortunately, Julia is representing Lancome…so guys, we need to educate her a bit !
anyway, back to Meryl…
As it said in the article, Streep knows all too well the pressure females feel to dim their light, & it makes me so sad. Seeing young girls play, confident & strong…something happens as they hit puberty, suddenly self-conscious or conscious of what guys think of them. They seem to start to want to do exactly that, dim their light, acquiesce, & reduce themselves (opinions, weight, talent, etc.) & their accomplishments. I think all of us are trying to get “it back” from then on…chasing the light to “find ourselves” again.
As Streep said, “as girls grow up, as soon as boys come into the picture, you figure out that you have to modify that assertiveness thing in order to even be acceptable, let alone appealing, within the cohort of girls as well as boys.” she found enormous relief outgrowing those constraints. The sad realization for me, is that most of us don’t or struggle SO hard day after day. & something she said struck me as something I do personally all the time, accommodate, accommodate, accommodate. I don’t know about you gals.
“I remember Albert Brooks saying to me in Defending Your Life, ‘could you just make it a little sweeter?’ Streep said, “& that’s been repeated by other people in the years since then…but I don’t listen to it.” hmmm at 43, I’m still listening & reacting…
How did Streep free herself? “I think you have to get sick of hearing the accommodation in your approach to things…the way people have to get sick of drinking or drugs before they stop. As there begins to be less time ahead of you, you want to be exactly who you are, without making it easier for everyone else. I’m not sure I ever was really comfortable waning around as a girl, anyway.”
I recently pinned up a picture of Streep at my desk for inspiration.
Best,
Suki
Posts
