Have you seen this clip of Julie Chen from The Talk? It’s all over the Internet thanks to Upworthy.

I’d watch it for the full effect, but here’s a synopsis.

• News anchor Julie Chen had plastic surgery very early on in her career because she was told by agents that widening her eyes was necessary to advance her career. In her words: “This big time agent said, ‘I cannot represent you unless you get plastic surgery to make your eyes look bigger.’ And I did it.”  

• Julie shared the before and after pictures of herself – see above. 

• The hosts of The Talk responded to the side-by-side image of Julie above like this:
• Sharon Osborne: “Fabulous!…It was the right thing to do.”
• Sheryl Underwood: “You didn’t give into the man, Julie. You made a choice that was good for you….Don’t look back.”
• Sara Gilbert: “I think you were beautiful before, you’re beautiful now, and it’s whatever makes you happy.”  

And then the audience applauded Julie and I sat in front of my computer feeling super freaking confused.

I understand that agents recommend plastic surgery for their clients. I understand that America has a standard of beauty that doesn’t include Julie’s original eyes, apparently. I don’t agree with it, but I’m not blind to it. I also get why clients with major dreams for success make the choice Julie did. And finally I’m with Sara – people should do whatever makes them happy.

My question is – should we be celebrating this or saddened by this? And it’s a legitimate question, not a mostly rhetorical, snarky question.

Are you a stronger person if you say, “fine then, I’ll do whatever it takes,” or are you stronger if you say, “thanks for the advice but I’m going to hold out for someone who will represent the actual me.”

Also – why did Julie have to change the shape of her eyes? Is it because she was ugly and audiences wouldn’t like her? Is it because she couldn’t be expressive with her old eyes, so audiences couldn’t connect with her? Or is it because they made her look too Asian, and audiences wouldn’t respond to that? That seems like something important to think about in the mix.

But bottom line – I think it’s a huge deal to change the entire look of your face. I’m not sure you can unequivocally call that, “the right thing to do” (even if you’re Sharon Osborne) or even a “choice that was good for you.” Yes, Julie Chen is super famous. That is good for her in many ways. But it weirds me out that the takeaway from this is, “you go girl!” and now, “we’re so sorry you were forced to do this.” Right?

I’m still really torn about my feelings on this issue because as a liberal person I believe people should have the right to do with their body whatever they see fit. But as a human woman/person I feel bad that people want to change themselves to drastically. And I think part of the reason the world (or their agents) prompt them to do so is because the standard of beauty is based on post plastic surgery headshots. That feels like a vicious cycle, no?

All I know is that if I had a daughter who wanted to know what I think about this whole issue right now, I’d be screwed…

Also – It’s worth noting that after receiving backlash online and in the media, Julie made statements about the issue that you can see here thanks to HuffPost. Julie was surprised by the backlash saying this: “What was hurtful was that the hateful comments that I read where people were judging me were people within my own community,” she said. “It was comments like, ‘Way to give in to the Western standards of beauty!’ ‘You’re denying your heritage!’ ‘You’re trying to look less Asian.'”

What do you guys think about this issue? Important? Interesting? or just another Talk topic that we’d be better off never knowing?