Virginia Postrel, Columnist

How to Break the Plastic Surgery Taboo

Megyn Kelly sparked a furor by asking Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery. It was a good question.

October 3, 2017 at 8:28 PM UTC

Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a visiting fellow at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University and author, most recently, of “The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World.”

Right question.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP -- Getty Images

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Jane Fonda took offense last week when Megyn Kelly asked her why the actress had said she “wasn’t proud” that she’d had plastic surgery. "We really want to talk about that now?” the annoyed star shot back, giving Kelly a disdainful look that quickly became an internet meme.

Her reaction made Fonda an instant hero. “Fonda handled it like a champ,” wrote CNN commentator Mel Robbins in a typical response. “A Master Class in Handling Ageism,” Fortune called it. “ALL HAIL QUEEN JANE,” declared blogger Luvvie Ajayi.