Exactly Why Uma Thurman Looks Like This

ICYMI, Uma Thurman attended the premiere of her new miniseries The Slap yesterday. Obviously, anyone who has seen Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, or Batman & Robin (hello, Poison Ivy!) knows exactly what Uma looks like and loves her for it  — the lady is nothing less than striking. But, last night, Uma showed up in makeup that was a total departure from her typical fare. Like anyone does whenever they change up their signature makeup, she looked a little different. But, then, the Internet deemed her "unrecognizable," and comments started flying that she had fallen prey to some "bad" plastic surgery. It felt like Renée Zellweger 2.0 — instant, vicious, and deeply, deeply disappointing.  We've reached the age of plastic-surgery spotting for sport. Everyone with a Disqus account and an opinion is a critic. And, it seems like women of a certain age fall victim to this phenomenon most often. The reaction to Renée's face back in October was a trending topic for days. While the gossip rags aren't blatantly saying that Uma's had work done (like they were with Renée), the declarations that the actress is "unrecognizable" are suggesting just that. What's more is that these publications are claiming Uma is wearing "natural" makeup, which shows off the fact that she's "probably" had some work done. Yeah, nice detective work there. If you look closer at Uma, though, she's wearing quite a bit of makeup — which she normally doesn't. Troy Surratt, one of our favorite makeup artists, has been painting Uma's face for years. Last night, the two decided to go for a look that was "more editorial than it was celebrity." Translation? "We did a much stronger brow and a bold lip for a French sort of feel," Surratt tells us. "I applied a creamy foundation for all-over glow, and then contoured the hairline and her cheekbones, adding warmth. I applied the lip — my color in Mégalomane mixed with Peccadille — and then we just kept the eyes really, really light."

The eyes were, of course, the primary source of speculation. Surratt wanted to do something unexpected with them,
insisting that nothing lifts the eyes like the perfect brows. "The way I shaded her eyebrows with the pencil, I created an uplifting effect," he says. "Then, I finished with a shimmering, silky-beige shadow on her lids, and went with no mascara at all...sort of a reaction against all the fake lashes we've been seeing on the red carpet."

There you go. A perfectly valid, high-level explanation that amounts to, "We experimented with the makeup." At the end of the day, though, whether Uma got work done is none of our damn business. Plenty of people will use the excuse that since she chose to be an actress, she's putting herself out there to be criticized and judged. That's like saying just because a girl is wearing a low-cut shirt or a tight skirt, she's inviting people to ogle her. But, what a woman does with her body or face is her business. Just because a woman is over 40 doesn't mean she's skipping off to get Botox. And, even if she did have a close, personal relationship with her plastic surgeon, it is not our prerogative to judge her for that. Our outward appearance has nothing to do with who we are as people, so we need to stop thinking of people who opt for fillers or other "work" as bad role models or having no self-confidence. What is important here is the one detail that all the tabloids have been forgetting: "Uma felt beautiful," Surratt says.