Justine Bateman is an actress, director, and author. She rose to fame on the 80s sitcom Family Ties as the flighty Mallory. She and Michael J Fox played beautifully off each other as mismatched siblings. She’s done a lot of other things but she also had a funny arc with her real life brother Jason on Arrested Development. I like Justine, whenever I catch her work, she’s consistent. She’s also 57 years old, so just a few years older than me (I believe I have mentioned – many times – that Jason is my birthday twin). Justine has made the un-Hollywood decision to not do any work on her face. No fillers, surgery or Botox. She said she did consider it once upon a time, but ultimately decided against it. As a result, she looks like… a 57-year-old woman. And a lovely 57-year-old woman at that. Justine talked about that to 60 Minutes Australia. She said her face “represents who I am. I am a different person,” and to alter it would erase that “evidence.”
Justine Bateman says confidence in your image should grow as you age, not diminish.
The director, author and actress who shot to fame in the 1982 sitcom Family Ties wants to share her body-positive message with anyone who needs to hear it.
Speaking with 60 Minutes Australia, the 57-year-old said she has heard people criticize her natural appearance and had a simple message for them: “I just don’t give a s—. I think I look rad. I think my face represents who I am. I like it.”
Bateman admits she has in the past thought about things like botox and fillers. But the actor-turned-director’s realization was that these procedures could take away something that was far more important than what they could give her.
“I feel like I would erase, not only all my authority that I have now, but also, I like feeling that I am a different person now than I was when I was 20,” she said, adding “I like looking in the mirror and seeing that evidence.”
When Justine Bateman was in her early 40s and writing her first book Fame: The Hijacking of Reality, she remembers Googling herself and finding the autocomplete: “looks old.” Justine Bateman looks old.
She then looked at the photos presented as “evidence.”
“I thought my face looked fine,” told PEOPLE in 2021 ahead of the release of her book Face: One Square Foot of Skin. “Because of some of the fears I had, unrelated to my face, I decided to make them right and me wrong… I became really ashamed of my face, ridiculously so.”
“I like looking in the mirror and seeing that evidence.” I’ve often referred to the lines on my face as my life’s roadmap. There’s a journey that led us to this moment and it took time. I think Justine’s point about not being the same person as she was at 20 is an important one. I don’t dislike 20-year-old me, but I am much more confident, happy and empowered now. So I applaud 20-year-old Hecate and all she endured to get 50+-year-old Hecate to this point, but they’re different people and yes, I’m okay with them looking different to showcase that.
Justine spoke of autocomplete cluing her in to people saying she looked old. I’ve seen a few outlets covering this story, seemingly sympathetic to her and her stance that she should be able to go forth in life as she wants (how brave for a woman!) They even give half-hearted uh-rahs! to Justine saying she thinks she looks “rad” (shout out to a fellow Gen Xer who won’t give up the lingo). And yet all of these G-D stories are running with “Justine Bateman Defends Her Decision to Age Naturally.” No. We are not defending anything. We are forced to explain something we shouldn’t have to. The implied biased of the media saying it’s an act that needs defending is why women are scared to look in the mirror in the first place. Get plastic surgery, don’t get plastic surgery. Lose weight, don’t lose weight. Dye your hair, let it go grey – just age the way you want. Because I am sure, beyond a shadow of doubt, you’ve earned it. And you sure as hell do not need to defend it.
Photo credit: Instagram and Getty Images
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