I have been waiting all of my life for a .gif set of this scene. This struck me so hard when I was younger.
Seriously. I didn’t quite understand as a kid because I too thought she was still so beautiful.
It’s so sad how cruel and shallow this world can be, and the horrible psychological damage they can inflict on people who had so much confidence and still possess potential for greatness.
Yet another example of how amazing this show was.
What makes this even more powerful is that Paige Monroe (Calendar Girl) is voiced by Sela Ward, a real-life model and actress who was infamously turned out of the Hollywood system for being ‘too old’. In 1995, even though she was a three years younger than Pierce Brosnan (then-Bond), she was turned down for a role in James Bond because "What we really want is Sela, but Sela ten years ago”. In response she made a documentary, The Changing Face of Beauty, about American obsession with youth and its effect on women. Then this episode came afterwards.
This wasn’t just a general message episode, this was a specific attack on the sexist Hollywod system by somebody who had been one of its victims.
