Ashley Judd Defends Appearance, Rails Against Society's "Hatred of Women"

Combating critics of her appearance once again, Ashley Judd went off on the sexualization, objectification and hatred of women she perceives in society.

Stories about Judd's puffy face, caused by the medication she had been taking for a sinus infection, gave way to plastic surgery rumors in recent weeks.

Rumors that did not sit well with the Missing star, who is assailing critics left and right over this "sad commentary" on our obsession with appearance.

"I think it's hatred of women that invites the criticism," the actress told NBC.

Ashley Judd Interview

"I think it's the objectification of girls and this hypersexualization of our society. It doesn't have anything to do with me, really, and how I look."

Judd says the reaction to her appearance was as swift as it was negative.

"There was no presumption of goodwill," she says, and that's what pushed her over the edge. "The conversation went straight to, 'Oh my gosh.'"

Particularly galling, besides the "nasty, vitriolic and gloating tone," she added, was the speculation that the 43-year-old had plastic surgery.

"I started to catch the double bind where, you know, my face looks puffy, 'She's had work done,' you know?" Judd says, noting the irony.

"Then, look at the same image in a different interpretation by a separate set of people is, 'Oh, come on, she doesn't even have any wrinkles at all, she's clearly had work.'"

"So, I look bad, I've had work. I look too good, I've had work."

Judd said she decided to address this incident "because the conversation was pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic and embodies what all girls and women in modern culture, to a greater or lesser degree, endure every day."

This happens "in ways both outrageous and subtle," she says. Do you agree?

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