Annie Lennox: ‘Botox just looks disturbing’

The singer hit out at cosmetic procedures on Facebook. Picture: PA

The 58-year-old former Eurythmics star claimed she did not understand why so many women “seem to flock towards having their lips swollen and their foreheads stiffened like cardboard” – insisting that cosmetic procedures often do not make women look younger, but “just disturbing”.

Singer Lennox, who was once a pin-up – and whose daughter Tali is a model – said treatments such as Botox were “truly unappealing”. Tali, the daughter of Lennox and Israeli record producer Uri Fruchtmann, has worked for fashion houses including Prada and Chanel, as well as being named the face of high-street brand Karen Millen last year.

The Aberdeen-born celebrity, who has also won awards for her humanitarian work, made the attack on Facebook, prompting a flurry of comments from women in support of her views.

“I don’t know. There’s just something very obvious about plastic surgery and Botox,” she wrote. “I really think people need to think very carefully before heading for the needle or the knife.

“If it were subtle and it just made you look a bit better it would be fine. But that’s not what happens.

“It’s very obvious, and looks like the person’s wearing a static mask. You just lose all semblance of authenticity.”

She added: “I don’t know why so many women seem to flock towards having their lips swollen and their foreheads stiffened like cardboard.

“It doesn’t make women look younger. It just makes them look disturbing. People should do whatever they want. All I’m saying is that I think plastic surgery looks very obvious and truly unappealing.”

Responding to her Facebook comments, fans spoke out in support of Lennox’s opinions, with the tirade being “shared” by almost 1,000 users of the social networking site.

“I feel the same way about every gray hair on my head,” said Dionna Nalls.

“I’ve earned every one of them. We women should learn to age gracefully. It’s a part of life and living.”

But others pointed to Lennox’s natural good looks.  The singer was named one of Playboy magazine’s most beautiful women in the world in the early 1980s.

“Easy to say when you’re already so beautiful, but I do agree,” said Facebook follower David Spragge.

However, Lennox’s views come as a U-turn from her previous comments on the subject just three years ago, when she admitted she would not necessarily be adverse to “a nip and tuck” in the future.

In 2010, the star – who has sold more than 80 million records and had a 1992 hit with a cover version of Keep Young And Beautiful (If You Want To Be Loved) – told Women And Home magazine that while she was happy with the way she had aged so far, she would not “rule out” cosmetic surgery as she got older.

“I haven’t had surgery because I don’t want to be a victim, to feel that my self-worth is so tied up in what I look like, but, if in ten years’ time I fancy a nip and tuck… we’ll see,” she said.

Lennox, who is well known for her outspoken views and has indicated her support for an independent Scotland, also recently attacked the music industry as “deeply entrenched in branding” and said it was “powerful utter nonsense”.

Earlier this year, she launched an onslaught on her home city of Aberdeen, which she said had been allowed to decline and was in desperate need of rejuvenation.