It is often said that one of the reasons people get a facelift or some other plastic surgery is because of what their Hollywood favourites do.
Be that as it may, the question that is perhaps more pertinent is do Hollywood film stars actually get cosmetic surgery to embolden their image in the way we are told they do?
It seems not – at least not now.
Speaking with reporters the star of the Hunger Games said: “I’m never going to starve myself for a part. I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong, not thin and underfed.”
And this view seems to be confirmed by one scientist, David Sarwer, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Sarwer is a specialist in eating disorders and body image and, while many argue that Hollywood perpetuates the myths of body image, he believes that’s all they are – myths.
Body image itself is comprised of a number of factors including the emotional response to a person’s self perception. This fuels the need to do something about it resulting in individuals taking rather negative action. In many people this can start an eating regime which can in the end kill the person; in others it could become an obsession with cosmetic surgery.
But according to Dr. Sarwer it isn’t Hollywood or their stars that can be blamed for this.
In a recent interview Dr. Sarwer told reporters that there was “very little relationship between someone’s objective appearance and their subjective body image.”
He added: “Individuals who are the most objectively attractive will sometimes have very negative body images, and individuals who are less attractive will sometimes show relatively little body image distress.”
But this has nothing it seems to do with any perceived influences by Hollywood. He concluded: “The primary catalyst for a cosmetic procedure is dissatisfaction with a part of their appearance — with their nose in the case of rhinoplasty, their love handles in the case of liposuction, or their breasts in the case of breast augmentation.”
This improvement helps improve feelings of self worth. In short, it is about the individual and not any Hollywood star.