Actress Kathy Bates, famous for her strong performances, has recently shared that she is dealing with a serious long-term health condition. Even with this challenge, she continues to motivate us with her determination and love for acting.
Bates started her acting career in New York in 1970. Even though she didn’t fit the typical image of a leading lady, she kept going and found success as a character actor.
Looking back on those early years, Bates said, “I was never the young, pretty lead. I’ve always been more of a character actor. When I was younger, it was tough because I didn’t look like the typical star. It wasn’t just about getting work; it was also about dealing with how people saw me.”
Kathy Bates had a major career breakthrough at 42 when she played a crazy fan in the film “Misery,” which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Even though she often had few role options, Bates found strength and success in the characters she played.
Besides her acting, Bates has also directed episodes for well-known TV shows like “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “NYPD Blue,” “Oz,” and “Six Feet Under.” She has definitely made a strong impact in the entertainment world.
But Kathy Bates has also had health challenges in her personal life. She fought cancer twice: first with ovarian cancer in 2003, and then with breast cancer in 2012. After her breast cancer surgery, she was diagnosed with lymphedema and became a spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network.
Lymphedema is a condition that causes swelling in the arms or legs. Despite dealing with this challenge, Kathy Bates has shown amazing strength by managing her symptoms through weight loss and wearing compression sleeves. She emphasizes the importance of taking things slow and focusing on each task, refusing to let the condition control her life. Bates uses her own experiences to inspire others with lymphedema to live fully.
In addition to raising awareness for lymphedema, Bates is committed to funding research for the condition. Even with her diagnosis, she continues to take on roles she loves and advocate for the cause. She demonstrates that it’s possible not just to cope with a chronic health condition, but to truly thrive.
Let Kathy Bates’ inspiring story remind you to tackle your own challenges head-on. Share this article to raise awareness and encourage others in their battle with lymphedema.
Gracefully aging, Helen Hunt is as beautiful today as she was five decades ago
In the 1990’s, Hunt was a household name with her breakout TV performance in the hit comedy series Mad About You, where she starred opposite Paul Reiser, who later starred in the Netflix series, Stranger Things.
She won four back-to-back Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes for her comedic portrayal of one half of a newlywed couple. She also directed some episodes, including the series finale in 1999.
Speaking with People, Hunt shared about her daughter and Reiser, “… My daughter loves Stranger Things so now when he calls she’s excited. She’s never seen an episode of Mad About You but she’s super psyched about Stranger Things!” Hunt has one daughter, born in 2004, with Matthew Carnahan, her partner of 16 years.
Hunt is also known for playing a storm chaser in the adrenaline-fueled movie Twister (1996), her Academy Award-winning role in 1997’s As Good as it Gets, starring next to Hollywood royalty, Jack Nicholson, and 2000’s Cast Away and What Women Want.
More recently, she plays a journalist in BBC’s World on Fire and has a recurring character on Blindspotting. She’s also loaned her skills as a director to shows like Californication, House of Lies and This is Us.
In 2021, she revealed she was working on a Twister reboot with a diverse cast of storm chasers “from HBCU [historically Black college and university],” but the story was rejected.
“I tried to get it made,” Hunt said in 2021. “I was going to direct it… We could barely get a meeting, and this is in June of 2020 when it was all about diversity. It would have been so cool.”
Universal Pictures is releasing Twisters, without Hunt, in July 2024.
Over the years, Hunt, who’s collected numerous awards and nominations, has been a staple in Hollywood culture with her timeless performances and beauty.
As one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood–a face that through the years has matured, she’s recently been the topic of many conversations.
With a career spanning more than four decades, it’s common, and expected, that there would be natural physical changes but, as a celebrity, Hunt is not immune from unfiltered opinions coming from the public.
Speculation that she had plastic surgery started after an accident in 2019, where the SUV she was a passenger, was t-boned by another car, causing it to rollover. She was briefly hospitalized but fully recovered, and within one week, she was back to work filming the limited series reboot of Mad About You.
Speaking with People about reprising her role, Hunt said, “It was a very loving piece of work. We loved it. It would be fun to work on something that’s really about love. We’ll be older though — I hope people are prepared for that. I’m not prepared for it!”
Shortly after, Radar Online, posted an article suggesting the star too much plastic surgery. In the story, she’s referred to as “ageless,” followed by “mannequin-like” and “…her expression more static than usual.”
Fans however were quick to defend her. One wrote, “I’m not an expert on spotting facelifts and that but to me Helen Hunt today still looks like Helen Hunt from Mad About You, just older. Which is what happens when 3 decades pass, people get older.” Another wrote, “I think we are so used to seeing women who have puffed up their lips and lifted both eyes and forehead, that a woman who is aging normally looks odd to us.”
Tight-lipped about the rumours that she’s had a nip and tuck to smooth the wrinkles on her face, it’s possible that Hunt benefits from a makeup artist, who can achieve the same results with some magical strokes of their brush.
In fact, there are many Hollywood beauty secrets that keep celebrities looking ageless. Pairing a healthy diet and exercise with pricey non-surgical spa treatments have proven results!
Hunt is very active and isn’t shy about showing off her fit physique. In an interview, she explained “As a general rule, I tend to move. I don’t go to a gym ever. I don’t diet ever. I used to diet, but sometime after the eighties, it made me miserable, but I do like to walk, run, and I do like to surf when I can just to warm it up, and I do enjoy doing yoga when I can get there.”
As we all know, being a woman in Hollywood can be quite a challenge.
In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hunt discussed how she has experienced being objectified throughout her career and how she hopes to help create a more inclusive.
“What are the great movies for younger women where they’re the protagonist [being] made now? You know what I mean? The whole thing — there’s no equal rights amendment. We’re fucked,” Hunt told Huffington Post in 2015.
Over the years, Hunt has been involved in various advocacy and philanthropic efforts to support women’s rights and empowerment – speaking up against objectification of women.
”I certainly drive around and I’m tired of the billboard where she’s barely in her underwear and they’re selling, you know, a watch or something,” Hunt said.
”I’m over it, to be honest.”
Facing judgements from the public can’t be easy, especially for celebrities who are out there doing their jobs, which is entertaining us.
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