Backlash as Catherine Zeta Jones criticised for looking 'old'

Ella Groves

Catherine Zeta Jones has become the latest victim of online hate following her recent appearance at Netflix's 'Wednesday FYC' event in LA.

Gold Derby posted an interview with Zeta Jones at the premiere to TikTok last month in which she discussed enjoying learning more about her character, Morticia Addams, during the second season of the show.

However, the comments on the video primarily focused on Zeta Jones appearance, including "Is she only 56?", "she has not aged well", and "Omg! What happened to her?"

Hello! also uploaded a video from the event and the comments on the post took a similar tone, including "Rough," "nope, retire gracefully," and "no, awful, looks haggard."

The influx of hate has itself received considerable backlash over the weekend, with many commentators and influencers coming to Zeta Jones' defence.

One such verified Facebook user, JayDee Milo, posted a video defending "the beautiful Catherine Zeta Jones" against internet trolls.

The video went viral reaching 1.7M views on Facebook, 90.4k on TikTok, and racked up 65.1k likes and over 1000 reposts on Instagram.

In the video he said: "Ya'll make no sense. You bully women when they get too much work done and bully them when they don't have enough."

He continued: "You never seem to talk about men either, only women."

The video, and others like it, have sparked an important discussion about the pressures women face to maintain their beauty as they age in a way that men do not.

Dr Morgan Francis, an American eating disorder therapist, commented on the video: "Women are always shamed for something natural, now many think 'aging gracefully' is about keeping up a young appearance."

Commenters also came to Zeta Jones' defence, with one writing: "People still see her in old films and forget she's actually ageing like a normal human being. She has always been, and still is stunning."