Somebody in this household bought this week's US Magazine and on it's cover is a picture of the Kardashian girls juxtaposed with pictures of the Kardashian girls as awkward teens with the headline reading "Look at them Wow!" The story discusses the usual blather about how awesome their lives were as kids as rich kids in LA but there is a section discussing how they went from rather plain (and cute) kids to the borderline (and not so borderline) porn star looking D-Level celebrities. There's a lot of discussion about diets and gym exercises and the discovery of designer clothes but left out of the discussion is the big ole huge plastic elephant sitting in the room. Well, that's not true-- one of them happily admits to a boob job and how ambivalent they were when they got them but in a moment of true Grrrrl Power, admits that she loves them now! Kim, however, denies plastic surgery but only in regards to rumored work on her posterior. This despite the fact that even on the cover it's obvious that her nose was several sizes bigger than it is now. My guess is that Kim and her fake-boobed sister both had a lot more work done then that.

This brings up in of yet another pet peeves, that of celebrity magazines constant celebration of celebrity beauty-- especially in those who were either not as attractive as before, weighed a bit more than before, and are over 40. No, the fact that these celebrities are "beautiful" is not the problem but the problem is that they always treat it as if it's the result of some sort of personal triumph after months of endless hard work when in the reality it was often being about stomach stapling, botox, plastic surgery, and a publicist. Not to mention the ability to afford personal trainers and chefs as well as the time to spend hours with the both of them. But none of these stories really get into that, they never for instance say "Jen's new nose job looks great!" Or "Lose Weight Just Like Angelina Did-- Not Eat for Days!" Or "How Sarah Jessica Parker Keeps Looking Young-- injecting botulism into her forehead!"

The worst offender of these is Madonna who, as we are constantly told, still looks fabulous at 50. Which she does. But she's also (probably, according to rumors) had major work done on her face, injects botox like a Haight Street junkie, and does so much yoga her arms look freakish.

Even worse, every few months, one of those magazines will have on it's cover a "shocking" write up on which celebrity has had which surgery but then two weeks later will put one of those celebrities on it's cover to talk about how all their dieting and working out has made them look as wonderful as they do.

Stars. They ARE just like us.