This weeks’ cover of people magazine sees hollywood babes denigrate plastic surgery. they all do. yet no one is getting older in that celluloid, cellulite free world. something doesn’t make sense.

catherine zeta jones…remember her in mask of zorro? she was breathtaking. today, though her body remains much the same, her face is totally different. sharon stone, (the same one who swore she wouldn’t have plastic surgery) looks 15 years younger than she did last year. halle berry doesn’t have the same nose she did a few years ago. either does benjamin bratt. yet everyone denies they had surgery and credit water, and a healthy lifestyle as the reason why they all look pinched and alike. (i never knew drinking water could change the shape of your nose…did you?)

sharon osbourne, patricia heaton and janice dickinson are open about their plastic surgeries. i respect that. while i do believe that celebrities have a right to privacy, i wish they wouldn’t deny it. mainly because millions of girls and women believe the celebs when they claim their implanted wrinkle free pouty lipped bodies are au natural. and so we have plastic surgery in girls under the age of 16 increasing by 200 per cent (or something like that) over the past decade.

likely i am so vehement about this because of my ivf experiences. when people ask me if i did ivf, i always answer yes. tonnes of celebrities have done ivf, and yet very few have been open about their experiences. joan lunden refuses to answer if her surrogate has her eggs. julia roberts, geena davis and other celeb mums won’t admit they have had ivf (and according to the rumour mills, they have, although i am in no way certain).

of course they have a right to privacy. but part of the reason celebs get paid the big bucks is because they have forfeited their right to privacy. let’s face it, they court publicity. (jodie foster, you are the exception and we love you for it). but again, dont they have a responsibility? what about the women out there who are putting having children on hold because geena davis and crew are having babies later in life? wouldn’t they want to prevent another couple from going through the hassle of infertility??? cast aside the shame society casts upon IVF (because its all about sex and “down there”) and create solidarity among other couples facing the same tribulations?

courteney cox, brooke shields, celine dion, the dixie chicks, jamie oliver…these folk have my respect for sharing their infertility stories. your fellow infertility fighters thank you!

did i feel ashamed because i needed ivf to have a child? yes, for a while, but then i got over it. a large reason for that was i realised just how many other couples were facing the same fight, and sharing similar stories rid charles and i of our feelings of shame.

do celebs feel they can’t admit to having plastic surgery because admitting they felt the need to improve themselves suggests they are less beautiful than they appear to be? are they ashamed of aging or their thin lips? maybe if they knew how many of their colleagues were in the same (manolo blahnik)shoes, the secret, and knives could come out of the closet.

it will be interesting to see which taboo institution crumbles first.. “natural” beauty or “natural” babies.