Those of you who have been following this blog for the past few years, know that I have a problem with Oprah’s approach to aging. Mainly I find her fear of confronting aging or even really discussing the issue entertaining.
A few years ago she had ONE, yes only one show about midlife crisis where she and Marianne Williamson poop pooped the idea that most of us may experience a turbulent or difficult transition around the age of 45 or 50. Never mind the reams of data documenting how common depression and suicide are worldwide in our age group, especially among women.
Oprah seems to enjoy believing that she isn’t really 56 years old. In fact, sometimes I think she believes she won’t die because she’s too rich and powerful! She seems to relate better to younger housewives and their problems. Why I don’t know, since she’s never been married, never been a housewife, never had children, and ain’t so young anymore!
But recently she’s launched her “Aging Brilliantly” series. Now she apparently wants to shame the rest of us who aren’t billionaires and don’t have the fame or money of say Raquel Welch, to afford all those extra enhancement surgeries, like botox, professional style assistance, chefs and trainers to “age brilliantly.” I wonder why they don’t call it aging expensively, or the best aging that money can buy!
I guess once you’re a billionaire you can never understand the lives of us lowly humans anymore. We aren’t celebrities. We are real people with real problems like health concerns, mortgages or foreclosures, job loss and real aging issues that we cannot solve by throwing more money at them.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I know it’s not cool to write this (I’m supposed to add something significant) but
AMEN sister!
If you only watched TV in America, you might get the impression that we’re all billionaires with money to burn! – The Queen
Great post! Before Oprah had Marianne Williamson on the show I sent in a suggestion, based on the work I was doing at that time, that they explore the idea of women’s aging as a journey involving body, mind & spirit. I also was very surprised that this area was almost skipped.
I agree, Oprah, Marianne Williamson & Rachael are in different positions than most of us, entirely. For each woman who had no ‘crisis’, there are 10 who did! I found peri-menopause difficult but empowering. I find aging a process to adjust to (I’m almost 61) – I’m getting my head around it slowly & making sure I treat my body well.
I’ve noticed 2 philosophies around aging: age naturally not forgetting your body/mind & or take all kinds of anti-aging products so your body is not it’s chronological age. Maybe the 2nd one’s not so bad on the one hand, but on the other, isn’t it buying into the youth cult?
Ellen Besso
MidLife Coach, Author & Elder Care Expert
Toddlers want to run, pre-schoolers want to be first graders, teenagers want to be sorority sisters. Everybody anticipates the next stage of life—except women. We are bombarded with messages that we have to stay forever young to be vibrant and useful. It’s an abusive, demeaning and limiting lie.
More women need to speak out honestly about how growing older can be a positive experience. I get tired of advertisements and TV shows celebrating seventy-year-old women who hike, bike and run marathons between boyfriends. They are amazing, but so are women who cook special meals for diabetic husbands, practice the piano in spite of arthritis, read with magnifying glasses, counsel troubled grandchildren (and their mothers) while wearing a hearing aid. There’s so much more to beauty than youth.
I appreciate your post!
I watched Oprah’s Show on “Aging Brilliantly” and I was infuriated. Racquel Welch -RE: Getting Dressed: taking three hours with assistants, mind you, is not aging brilliantly. She has been, sucked (liposuction) plucked, tucked and botox injected so many times it appears she has no personality.
Why doesn’t Oprah find some real women-NOT rich women and teach us all how to embrace our aging. Why doesn’t she confront the devastation that comes with aging. Listening to her show with guest Rachel Welch was disheartenng to say the least.
Aging is part of the process, and not one of us is going to get out of the experience if we live long enough. And lets face it gals -it is sometimes rather sad to see our bodies going south, our minds going bonkers, our external beauty dissapearing and we look up and there is Oprah showing yet another rich Hollywood Star looking like they are 35 when they are really 69.
Hey- I have a wonderful idea! Give us the money, the trainers, cosmetic surgeons, chefs-(Oh I could go on) these women have and I PROMISE you we will be aging brilliantly too.
And if I hear one more of Oprah’s epiphanies on gaining weight-I think I will scream to the high heavens. Face it Oprah-some people like to eat more than others and some just carry the fat gene, and of course there are those that do have a genuine chemical imbalance. Other than that, why is she still talking about weight. She(my opinion of course) was not meant to be a size 6.
It is really not that complicated to understand!!!
I find that Oprah and Marianne are very very inspiring with body, mind and spirit! I don’t understand why you and the commenter’s feel this way. Just like anything else, listening to all kinds of thoughts, theories and beliefs then taking what applies to you personally at that moment in time that works and then disregarding the rest that doesn’t fit is what its all about. These two women, among others, have been very helpful to me for many years. Just sayin’…
Was wandering around in our baby boomer niche and found your site listed as a boomer blog to follow.
I did not see the Oprah show you discuss above, but I have my own issues with Oprah and the influence she wields on women of all ages.
As for men, I am 55, I went thru a major mid life in 2008, with all the thoughts above about aging, depression and suicide.
We boomers should embrace our aging just like we embraced our youth!
Thanks for letting me share…..
Always Positive,
Boomer54 Mark
Thanks for ALL of your comments on Aging Brilliantly with Oprah! And Becci, please see the comments from the others for an answer to your question about why we feel this way! I love you all as we age inexpensively, but BRILLIANTLY…. Laura Lee
{ 1 trackback }