@ 2024 Advocate Channel.
All Rights reserved

Justine Bateman's Refreshing Message on Aging

Justine Bateman's Refreshing Message on Aging
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock

Justine Bateman's Refreshing Message on Aging

"How did people even get those ideas that a woman's face is broken and has to be fixed?" the actress asked in a recent interview.

Family Ties alum Justine Bateman has no ties to a youthful appearance.


The actor and director recently explained her philosophy on aging in an appearance on NBC Australia's Today. She said that she believes many people fear getting older, which is why some try to prevent it from showing physically.

"I think it's about fear," she said. "Everyone has a completion to this sentence, 'I'm afraid that if people think I look old, than therefore...' And for different people it's different things. Some are afraid they'll lose their job or never get a job, or not get a mate, or no one is going to listen to them."

Bateman said that everyone experiences these fears well "before your face started changing," and that cosmetic procedures don't address the root of those fears and insecurities, but rather feed into them.

Bateman explained that she believes aging is "an opportunity to take care of that fear, so it's not leading you around by the nose and making you make other decisions that take you off track."

"What are those fears and how did people even get those ideas that a woman's face is broken and has to be fixed?" she asked.

The Violet director added that this fear of aging often leads young people — particularly women — to incorrectly believe that their lives can only be fulfilling in their youth, or that they should only place value in their appearances.

"I think the younger woman are going, 'I don't want to feel like that. I don't want to feel terrified that my face is getting older,'" Bateman continued. "I would say to any young woman: You're being lied to. You're being tricked off your path. You've got some awesome things coming your way and just stay on your path."

Bateman recently opened up about why she opposed getting plastic surgery in an interview with 60 Minutes, where she also said that she was "sad" at the thought of younger women undergoing procedures such as botox and filler.

"I feel sad that they're not just enjoying life," Bateman said. "I feel sad that they are distracted from the things that they're meant to do in life with this consuming idea that they've got to fix their face before anything else can happen."

As a 57-year-old woman, Bateman said that she didn't intend to show the beauty in aging naturally, but that she wanted to disregard beauty as a standard entirely.

"When you say, ‘Is there beauty in aging?' Aren't you really saying, ‘Do you think it's possible for other people to find aging beautiful?'" she explained. "And like, I just don't give a s--t."

She added: "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."

From our sponsors

From our partners

Top Stories

Ryan Adamczeski

Digital Director

Ryan is the Digital Director of The Advocate Channel, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She is also a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics.

Ryan is the Digital Director of The Advocate Channel, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She is also a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics.