2.20.2009

No I'm not on drugs-I'm just weird.


My daughter showed me a picture in her National Geographic Kids Magazine. It was of a woman named Virginia Wheeler who holds the world's record for "longest beard on a woman."

The picture of this woman got me thinking. "Hmmm. Now that's working with what you've got. Instead of fighting her beard, she's making a career out of it." Interesting.

Bizarre and disturbing, but interesting.

Since I absolutely LOVE wasting my time on stupid shit, I decided to do a little research on "bearded women."

Here's some stuff I came up with:

Some women embrace the hair on their faces. Vivian Wheeler from Woodriver, Illinois holds the Guinness Book of World Records title of “Longest Female Beard Hair”—11 inches. She began shaving at the age of seven, at the insistence of her father. After four marriages and the death of her mother in 1993 she decided to just let the hair grow. She has since joined a traveling curiosity show in Illinois.

Jennifer Miller embraces her beard as an act of feminist defiance. She founded Circus Amok, a circus show with a political agenda, and holds regular performances in New York’s South Bronx. There are so many cosmetic ways to remove facial hair, and the social stigma of being a bearded lady would be enough for most people to just shave it off. Bearded ladies are oddities for sure, but there have been a few to buck conformity and use their uniqueness to create a new image of what it means to be a woman.


As I completed my exhaustive research on bearded women, the vision of a woman who DIDN'T embrace her "flaws" came to me. JENNIFER GREY. I decided to waste more precious hours of my day researching the career of Jennifer. Here's what I came up with:


Jennifer Grey

Hollywood dreams were shattered after a "nose job from hell" changed her appearance so drastically, she looked nothing like her former self. The 1980s star's promising career ground to a complete halt overnight in the early 1990s because suddenly nobody recognised her - and even friends would blank her when she bumped into them.

She says, "I went in the operating theatre a celebrity - and come out anonymous. It was like being in a witness protection program or being invisible. I remember going to a restaurant where I had been going for years. I ran into people I knew and would say, 'Hey.' Nothing. I'll always be this once-famous actress nobody recognizes... because of a nose job."


A sad tale indeed. So there you have it. Two women prospering in the freak show world because they had the courage to love their facial hair, and a woman exiled to the Hollywood D-List because of a botched nose job.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. I'm hoping to do some more groundbreaking reports in the upcoming months. Some topics include, Kelly from "Real Housewives of New York City" and her FUNKY boob job and how Nadya Suleman affords to have breast implants, rhinoplasty, Juvederm and IVF on disability pay.

I hope you'll stay tuned.


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jennifer Miller is not a woman that is a man's face beard or no beard.

Jan said...

I have never recognized Jennifer Grey ever since her nose job. Believe me that's no way to treat "Baby".

Dr Zibbs said...

But you have to admit Jennifer Grey was a dog before and now she's cute.

PaperCourt said...

That beard stuff freaks me out.

linda said...

Jennifer Grey looks adorable now, though.

Anonymous said...

That second pic is not a woman...andI think JG looks better with new nose

Bridget said...

so funny b/c we were just watching Dirty Dancing and I said the same thing. She looks great, but nothing like her former self. I'll pass on the beard and am demanding a dna test on the "woman" in that pic! Lady looks like a dude!

Yellow Beads said...

you crack me up...I agree with Jan in that i NEVER recognize Jen Gray anymore!

Petunia said...

I think Jennifer looks prettier now and maybe she's just blaming her lack of a successful career on a nose job. I never saw her in anything other than Dirty Dancing.
Don't even get me started on Nadya "Angelina Jolie wannabe" Suleman...

Marianna said...

I like Jennifer Miller and do not agree with Kate. I think it is great if women let their beard grow. Why should women use cosmetics and lazer to get rid of the beard? I let my beard grow.
Marianna

Anonymous said...

That's not just a man's face, those are also man hands and a man's chest.

It's great if women want to let their facial hair grow, but Jennifer Miller, like most of the 19th century circus freaks, is a fake.

Editor said...

Jennifer Grey looks much better now I think...

Anonymous said...

Think JG may look pretty now - like 10,000 other women in LA, but she was pretty before and had character

Anonymous said...

How can you say that Jennifer Miller is a fake?! Do you have any proof of that!?

Susan C. said...

To be precise, JG isn't anonymous because of a "botched" nose job, so much as because of a very well-done nose job. She's super cute before AND after. What makes me sad is guessing what thoughts might have driven her to get the surgery in the first place, when she looked perfectly fine without it. So unnecessary. Liked her best in Red Dawn, tho. Go Wolverines!!!

Unknown said...

If she is happy with how she looks - then she made the right decision. If all she is worried about is money - then she made the wrong decision.

Valynn said...

It's sad that the 'beard stuff' freaks people out.
It's nature doing what it's always done and women just not trying to change what comes natural to them.

I, too, can grow a beard. However, I do shave every day. Sometimes I wish I could just let it grow without being stuck working only in a traveling 'freak' show for the rest of my life.
But, because I want to be a preschool teacher, I have to keep it shaved.

Sad, really.. that men can grow their facial hair and leg hair without repercussions like that.

 
Website Content and Copy: Caffeine Court, 2007-8.|Blog Design by JudithShakes Designs.