UGLY FOR TWO WEEKS
My wife has a blessed (by that I mean lucky) and super interesting friend. They are both from the same country. The friend is a top level actress in that country which will remain un-named. My wife and her friend might be annoyed with me for revealing which country. So I won’t - not directly anyway. But I will say it is south of North Korea and they eat barrels of Kimchi there.
The friend was teenage movie star. She was in one classic film so iconic that a few years ago a postal stamp was made of a famous scene she is in. Let’s call her Sooks just to make things easier. Sooks was a product directly or indirectly of a civil war in her country and the country immediately north of it. She is half French and half that other nation I’m not supposed to mention. She is exotic to the max and wears her grey hair long which is a no no for older women in that country. And P.C. or not, being stunning is what got her in film. But she pulls off the long hair thing and the women admire her because of her daring non-traditional public bravado.
Life for her started rough. In the tiny provincial village she grew up in the kids pelted her with rocks because she appeared different. Sooks also shared with me that until the age of 6 she thought she was a boy. Her mother believed that would somehow be better for them.
We met her in New Mexico through mutual friends. She turned heads everywhere and had a leg up on life’s opportunities because of her looks. For example Sooks decided she wanted to oil paint. She did and not too long afterward sold a few paintings for outrages prices. Nobody else could have pulled that off.
We’d run into her here and there over the years. Always she pursued her inner soul. What is the meaning of life? And she had frequent moves while on her self-quest. Eventually she returned to her homeland and through luck and a second chance, Sooks got on big time T.V. again. She started a cooking show and wrote a successful book about cooking. That took off and viewers, producers, and agents noticed her once again.. Movie opportunities presented themselves. When my wife and I watch movies from that country she is in more than a few of them. This country makes great movies like Squid Game and Parasite.
Once Sooks and I had a heated discussion.
“You know I said, “The reason you are able to do all the things you do is because of how you look?”
“What do you mean?” She answered with a little venom.
“You turn heads. You suck the oxygen out of a room when you walk in it. You have since you were a kid. Even now you look …well…great.”
I presumed that would not please her and it didn’t. She replied, “I’d like to think I’m a decent actress and that’s what does it.”
I crossed my arms and decided to poke her a bit. “Look, if you weighed 280 lbs and had three eyes do you think you would ever have had a first and then second shot in movies?”
“I’d like to think so.” She crossed her arms and didn’t say a lot to me for the rest of the day. Soon there after she returned to that country which is west of Japan and we’d see her pop up in movies and T.V series again.
The day came when she returned to USA and visited. We had a talk. She initiated it, “Ummm, do you by any chance recall our discussion about why I get opportunities?”
“Yes, in fact I do.”
“Well, I had a real shock. I was ugly for two weeks. Unbelievable!”
My ears perked up, “You ugly? This I have to hear.”
“ I ate some shellfish. Had a horrible reaction. My face bloated massively. My eyes nearly closed and I had an evil rash everywhere for two terrible weeks.”
She didn’t follow up. I did, “And….?”
“People were horrible to me! Taxis passed by me. Before drivers would run out and open the door. In public buildings people didn’t wait for me when elevator doors were closing. Just the opposite. They slammed the doors to keep me out. On subways or trains no one offered me a seat. Even the way people spoke to me was noticeable. They were rude in lines and unkind. I didn’t get smiles. I got sneers, contempt or invisible indifference. It was not a nice feeling but I’m glad I experienced it.”
“So are you saying I was right that looks matter?”
“Sadly, yes.”
“Well, welcome to the rest of the planet’s reality. Hey, want to go out for some shellfish for dinner?”
She laughed, “No.”
My wife and I always look forward to seeing her in person and in film. But I don’t hold the door open for her any more. Stunning actresses on the top of the food chain need a humble reminder now and again.