Ashley Judd Slams Media for "Nasty" and "Misogynistic" Comments About Her Puffy Face

Ashley Judd has blasted the media for its "pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic" comments about her puffy face in recent weeks that set off rumors of plastic surgery and facial injections.
In a piece on The Daily Beast, the Missing star writes that the various reports on her appearance — which she says was the result of steroid medication for a month-long cold — was an "assault" on female body image. "The hypersexualization of girls and women and subsequent degradation of our sexuality as we walk through the decades, and the general incessant objectification is what this conversation allegedly about my face is really about," she writes.

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Judd, 43, then outlines five "conclusions" that the media made about her after seeing her face, including that she "clearly had work done," and that she has gained weight and looks like a "cow" and a "pig" and "'better watch out' because my husband 'is looking for his second wife.'"What angers Judd the most, however, is that the rumors were mostly initiated by women, which she calls "a sad and disturbing fact." "That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient," she says, lamenting that she too sometimes has commented on other women's looks.

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"This abnormal obsession with women's faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times — I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly," she writes. "We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women."Judd urges readers to stop "the insanity" and change the "conversation" about her face."I hope the sharing of my thoughts can generate a new conversation: Why was a puffy face cause for such a conversation in the first place?" she writes. "If this conversation about me is going to be had, I will do my part to insist that it is a feminist one, because it has been misogynistic from the start. ... Join in — and help change — the Conversation."