Justine Bateman opens up about aging gracefully: 'I think I look rad'

Women are often told that aging is bad for them and even more if someone is a celebrity. But actor Justine Bateman is one of those who is not afraid of aging. The actor, director, and author had a message for anyone who thinks she "looks old." Bateman said, " "I just don't give a s---. I think I look rad. I think my face represents who I am. I like it," in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia on March 19, 2023. 

"The Family Ties" actor said in the interview that she didn't know about the comments people made about aging until she googled herself while writing her first book, "Fame: The Hijacking of Reality." She was surprised to find that as soon as she typed her name, the first autofill response was the line, "Justine Bateman looks old," according to GOD. “And I was only 42 at the time … and I was like, ‘What?’ And I looked at the pictures that they had as evidence and I couldn’t see what they were talking about,” she continued.

Bateman said that she could get cosmetic surgery done, but that would remove a part of her that she is proud of. “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. I like looking in the mirror and seeing that evidence,” said the actor.

The actor also shared that she feels sad for anyone who had to worry about their looks and aging. “I feel sad for them. I feel sad that they are not just enjoying life. I feel sad that they are distracted from the things that they are meant to do in life… with this consuming idea that they’ve got to fix their face before anything else can happen,” said Bateman.

“Forget about your face! That is what I’m saying. Get rid of the fear that your face being wrinkled is going to ruin a bunch of opportunities for you,” she added. She admitted that it is not like she has not thought about it. “You can certainly look in the mirror and go, ‘Oh, if I just had like a lower facelift I would get rid of this skin that catches the light, and then I could have that operation where you go into the eyelid, or you know take some of the skin out and this that’s hanging over now, over the eyelid, you can get that removed,’” Bateman said, according to New York Post.

In an interview with TODAY, the actor revealed the impact of her conversation about aging. She said that 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," as reported by PEOPLE.

The actor was happy to get such a response. "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," said Bateman.

Moreover, she has also written about the subject in her recent book, "Face: One Square Foot of Skin," with a collection of stories from 47 women about their thoughts on aging and the societal pressure on them to look young.