Suck It, Hypocrisy and Guilt!

Plastic Surgery Blog reports that actress Denise Richards feels hypocritical in promoting her daughters’ healthy body images because of the work she has had done—breast augmentation. She wishes she had not had the surgeries and blames them on her lack of self confidence.

“I often times feel like a hypocrite with my daughters when trying to teach them to have a healthy view on beauty and body image. I’m in a business where looks and weight do matter,” she wrote on iVillage.

I applaud Richards’ courage in admitting the hypocrisy, a conflict I experience within myself. I often find myself encouraging my daughter that looks aren’t what matter, but I am faced with the dilemma of how important looks were to me at one point of my life.

I know there will be a day when my daughter will learn of my past that was centered around beauty, but I hope that the model I am setting now accurately represents how I truly feel: the most important goals in life are not outer beauty, but self-love and acceptance, expression of individuality, a sense of integrity in everything we do, and the development of close-knit relationships.

Hopefully, through the example I set as I live forward, I will teach my children that loving who we are, inside and out, is the most beautiful thing in the world.