When Obama turned 50 in August, warring political parties and world leaders paused to congratulate him. Thousands of fundraisers in his hometown of Chicago sung "Happy Birthday," and his two daughters left summer camp for Camp David for a more intimate celebration. But among the outpouring of well wishes were...

There are people who look great for their age -- George Clooney, Annette Bening and Betty White are a couple of celebs that come to mind. Then there are others who look to me to be strangely "altered" -- think Mickey Rourke, Priscilla Presley and Heidi Montag.

For all...

Is blonde and bubbly Jennifer Aniston your ideal of beauty? Or is it sultry Angelina Jolie, the woman Brad Pitt seems to favor? What about Serena Williams, America Ferrera or even Betty White?

According to CNN contributor, Alana Dawson, our beauty icons have become more diverse, a...

Has Photoshop gone too far? Kate Winslet and Brad Pitt are among several public figures who think so and the American Medical Association (AMA) is now backing them up.

Winslet was one of the first to break ground when she took action against GQ magazine...

I started using the term "beauty self-esteem" after a journalist asked me to describe the psychological difference between attractiveness and beauty.

She asked, "Why do some people feel attractive even if they don't have model-like features, whereas as others -- like some fashion models, onscreen actors and others known...

Is there ever a right moment to step out of the spotlight -- if not for the long term, then just for an intermission? How do we know when the next act beckons and when it's time to move on with style and grace.

With great fanfare, we recently said...

Does anyone else question authenticity the way I do these days? Does doubt about what is "real" versus "enhanced" interfere with the trust we once had in the people we admire and applaud?

I was thinking about this while watching a recent Yankees game. An enthusiastic fan whenever the...

Psychologists tend to view issues from different perspectives, which is how I approached the recent Wall Street Journal article describing the rise of plastic surgery among men. On the positive side, this trend suggests that men may better understand the anti-aging pressures that women have faced for so...

We've had the generation gap and the gender gap. Are we ready to tackle the "gray" gap?

As long as can be remembered, there has been a double standard about going gray. Men -- like George Clooney, Richard Gere and Bill Clinton -- not only expose their lightening locks, they...

Few of us are surprised when the young and famous -- à la Reese Witherspoon, Justin Timberlake and Renee Zellwegger -- break up. But when celebrated marriages weather decades of ups and downs and then dissolve? Well, those still have the ability to stun, and can even...

Few topics are as polarizing as the escalating use of plastic surgery to alter the appearance of men, women and an increasing number of young adults. There are those who vehemently oppose the whole idea, seeing it as a sad reflection of our beauty- and youth-obsessed culture, while...

My confidence in the long held belief that the 'Chinese revere their elders' began to fade when a Beijing publisher was first in line to purchase the foreign rights to my book, "Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change" (Hay House 2011). Delighted, but surprised, I heard...

When your grown-up kids drop by to visit, do they still come with bags of laundry? How often do they leave with bags of leftovers -- and maybe even a bit of cash -- alongside their neatly folded, clean clothes?

According to a recent Reuters report, there...

If you're between 45 and 65 years old, then you know what it's like to be lumped together by age, as a mid-lifer, Baby Boomer, Hippie or Yuppie. Viewed as that huge generation reaching middle age (and beyond) by the millions, we've been told that we can retain...

Since Elizabeth Taylor's death last week, much has been said about her illustrious career and colorful personal life. And while tributes highlighted her many movies and marriages, it's probably fair to say that a lot of us will remember her for her exquisite beauty: those violet eyes, her...

In the weeks following International Women's Day, a great deal of discussion ensued about the ambivalent connection (or lack of one) that contemporary women have toward feminism. In a piece here entitled "Reclaiming Feminism," Annie Lennox wrote, "Many young women feel the label of 'feminist' is, at best,...

Although originally used by psychologists to describe a transitional stage in adult development, today the midlife crisis is often associated with the guy in his 40s who finds a young girlfriend and runs off in his new sports car; or the woman, about the same age, who reinvents herself, buys...

A blogger reacted to an article recently posted here saying, "Anyone who thinks Boomers aren't resented by a large proportion of Gens X and Y is living in a dream world. But what else is new?" This was one among many other angry comments following "Generational Wars" and...

It started out as an inside joke between a group of friends, all Baby Boomers, when we found ourselves all too often talking about our latest aches and pains. Being close friends, we laughed at ourselves, saying, "How about we put a limit of five minutes on the time we...

Boomer Power. It is all over the news. The recent PEW Report publicized our massive size; 78 million in the U.S. alone will be 65 this year and 10,000 more reaching that milestone each day for the next 19 years. According to The Wall Street...