Jamie Lee Curtis Fears Plastic Surgery and Procedures 'Are Wiping Out Generations of Beauty'

Jamie Lee Curtis Fears Plastic Surgery and Procedures 'Are Wiping Out Generations of Beauty'
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Jamie Lee Curtis wants younger generations to embrace their natural beauty.

The 62-year-old actress opened up about modern beauty standards, admitting that she's worried about society's "obsession" with plastic surgery and the desire to alter one's appearance during a recent interview with Fast Company.

"I tried plastic surgery and it didn't work. It got me addicted to Vicodin," she told the outlet. "I'm 22 years sober now."

She continued, "The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty. Once you mess with your face, you can't get it back."

Curtis reflected further on the impact that social media can have on mental health, sharing that she uses her platforms "to sell things and amplify things I care about. Period. The rest is cancer."

"It's like giving a chainsaw to a toddler," she said. "We just don't know the longitudinal effect, mentally, spiritually, and physically, on a generation of young people who are in agony because of social media, because of the comparisons to others. All of us who are old enough know that it's all a lie. It's a real danger to young people."

Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis

Michael Tullberg/Getty Jamie Lee Curtis

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Earlier this year, Curtis appeared on an episode of the PEOPLE in the '90s podcast and talked about the pressures of growing old in Hollywood and what it was like to watch parents Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh go under the knife.

"I watched my parents get face lifts and neck lifts," Curtis told PEOPLE in the '90s hosts Jason Sheeler and Andrea Lavinthal. "I watched their work diminish, I watched their fame not diminish. And the contradiction of a lot of fame, but not a lot of work, is really hard to navigate for people. Very hard to be famous but not be doing the thing that made you famous. And that for the rest of your life, you're famous for something you did a long time ago, and you chase that attention."

"I wanted to be mindful, as the daughter of stars," Curtis explained.

In 2018, Curtis also opened up to PEOPLE about her 10-year opioid addiction, sharing that she was first prescribed opiates in 1989 after minor plastic surgery "for my hereditary puffy eyes."

According to Curtis, she spent the next decade getting painkillers any way she could — even stealing pills from friends and family, including her older sister Kelly, who was the first person to find out about her addiction in 1998.

"I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic," Curtis said. "I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one."

Curtis attended her first recovery meeting in February 1999. She told her husband of 36 years, actor-director Christopher Guest, about her addiction that day. (The couple has two children: Annie, 34, and Ruby, 25.)

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"I'm breaking the cycle that has basically destroyed the lives of generations in my family," Curtis told PEOPLE. "Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment… bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything."

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Earlier this year, Curtis celebrated 22 years of sobriety. In July, while chatting with AARP The Magazine, she provided advice for others looking to overcome addiction.

"The process of being a sober person puts you in the one day at a time mentality," she said. "Try to forget about the past, because you can't do anything about it anyway. And try to live a present life."

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.