Last week we talked about Justine Bateman’s 60 Minutes Australia interview in which she said she had no desire to erase the evidence of her age on her face. I was thrilled to see the positive response to her comments. Apparently, we were not the only ones to fist bump Justine and her ‘rad’ appearance, she’s seeing a lot of love in her DMs. While promoting her new book Face on Today, Justine told Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie that women get plastic surgery because of fear. But we’re being “lied to” about what would happen if we did look older because people make a lot of money off our desire to look younger.

Speaking to Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie this morning on the TODAY Show, Bateman said that after the segment aired, she received a meaningful message. The woman, a mom, said, “I never realized what impact this conversation was having on younger women until my [16-year-old] daughter came in from the other room. She said, ‘Hey, did you guys see the 60 Minutes thing with Justine Bateman?’ She said it was great–now I’m not afraid of getting old.”

Bateman was glad to hear it. “I was like, oh my god, if just one person, like, is not afraid,” she said. “It’s silly. I’ve never been smarter, I’ve never had more connections. It’s like when you’re younger you know the [guy at the] door of the nightclub? When you’re older, you know the person who owns the building that the nightclub is in.”

The 57-year-old said the war on aging was an “inside job” that left some women doubting their appearance. “I would say to any young woman, you’re being lied to. Who is making money off this? You’re being lied to and you’re being tricked off your path… You’ve got awesome things coming your way. Just stay on your path and just ride it out.”

Bateman told Kotb and Guthrie it was this fear that left people not wanting to look older. “Some people are afraid they’ll lose their job or never get a job or not get a mate or no one’s going to listen to them or whatever. And that fear, my position is, that fear existed before their face started changing,” Bateman says.

“I’m just somebody who got myself on the other side of what that fear was for me in particular, and I’m just sharing what worked for me. Lots of ways to get there, but for anyone who wants to get free,” she told the TODAY Show.

[From Yahoo!]

To be fair to Justine, in the full interview, she emphasizes that she is not an advocate against plastic surgery, she just pushed past the desire to do any work. Ultimately, I agree with her points, too. I absolutely agree that Bottled Youth is big business and nobody’s willing to give up that cash cow. I agree that the pervasive ageism in society motivates women to hide their age. But in Justine’s segment, posted below, when she spoke about how we are being lied to, she suggests the hurdles are all in our heads and we just need to push past it like she did. On this point she may be coming from a position of privilege of being able to jump from actress to director/author. Any job site warns you to restructure your work experience on your resume so potential employers can’t tell your age. While some myths are being perpetuated about the need to turn back the clock, it isn’t just in our heads.

Justine’s primary message, though, is to push past the fear of looking older, which is a good one. I appreciate the part that we should embrace our age and celebrate who we are. I also still believe, however, that we all have our little ways of getting there. I’ve admitted that I dress flamboyantly as kind of an armor. Justine clearly still dyes her hair. Maybe someone else minimizes their smile lines but keeps their crows’ feet. We all push past the fear in different ways so let’s continue to lift each other up along the way.

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Embed from Getty Images

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