Actress Monica Bellucci reopened the heated debate on the airbrushing of stars’ photographs on Wednesday by declaring, “Thank heavens for retouching.”
The Italian beauty, the oldest Bond girl ever at 50 in “Spectre,” told AFP that she had learned to accept “seeing my face change” but she was not adverse to a little help from Photoshop. She said she was glad that magazines were airbrushing less than in the past and that the public was learning to love stars’ little “imperfections.”
Even so “I say thank heavens for retouching. It’s airbrushing that saves us,” she declared. The actress, now 52, said when she watched her latest film, Emir Kusturica’s “On the Milky Road,” she noticed that she had “lines around my eyes and everywhere. Ten years ago I didn’t have them. I see how I have changed on screen.
“That said, I look at myself with compassion,” she added.
“I didn’t say to myself, ‘Oh my God, it’s monstrous!’ No, I think it is charming,” said the mother of two.
The former model, whose new book of interviews “Rencontres clandestines” (Secret Meetings) is published Wednesday in France, also said people should not look down on women who have had cosmetic surgery.
“When I see mature women who haven’t been redone I don’t say, ‘She should get her face lifted.’ I think to myself, ‘She is very lovely like that.’
“However, when you see someone who has had work and who is beautiful with it, I say to myself, ‘She did the right thing’,” she added.
“You have to do what is good for you,” said the actress, who will be master of ceremonies at the Cannes film festival later this month.
“Plastic surgery is there. If it makes you happy, why not do it?“

Source: Arab News