Ashley Judd Slams Media For Plastic Surgery Rumors

Last month Ashley Judd, 43, became the unfortunate victim of the media's never-ending plastic surgery speculation when photos of her with what was described as an abnormally "puffy face" emerged online.

Now Judd is lashing back at the "pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic" conversation that surrounded her physical appearance for something that actually had to do with a severe sinus infection, in an essay she penned for The Daily Beast.

Though Judd reveals that she makes it her "personal practice" to "ignore" stories about her in the media, she felt differently about last month's fixation on her facial appearance, partly because it "embodies what all girls and women in our culture, to a greater or lesser degree, endure every day, in ways both outrageous and subtle."

Judd also went on to point out that the conversation was "initially promulgated largely by women; a sad and disturbing fact." Patriarchy, she wrote, "is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate .... It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it."

You can catch Judd on her new show, Missing, about a former CIA operative whose son disappears, Thursdays at 8 pm EST on ABC.

Watch a clip from Missing here:

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