“‘Love Island UK’ Star Helena Ford Looks Dramatically Different in Old Photos.” “Helena Ford From ‘Love Island’ Looks Unrecognizable in Throwback Pictures.” “Unearthed Throwback Pics Show an Unrecognizable Helena Ford.” These are just some of the headlines I’ve seen popping up on my social media feeds over the last few days. TLDR, if you couldn’t tell, apparently old photos of “Love Island”‘s Helena Ford have popped up online, and surprise! She looks dramatically different. And guess what else? I’m over it. Not only do I not care if 29 year-old Helena Ford looks completely different from ‘unearthed’ photos (this is reality television, btw, not an archeological dig), but I truly don’t think it’s any of my business. Why? Because what people choose to do to their bodies is up to them.
Does Ford look different in the photos? Sure, her hair color is different, her face is a bit rounder, and her lips look smaller, but guess who also looks a lot freaking different than they did two years ago, five years ago, and ten years ago? Me. And honestly, probably, you, too.
“We’re allowed to evolve, to make changes, to look different. We’re allowed to look worse, and we’re sure as hell allowed to look better.”
Yes, celebrities have been getting more open when it comes to the plastic surgery they’ve had done, but honestly, whether it’s puberty, filler, Botox or a full blown face lift, does it really matter? We already pit women against each other, do we really need to start pitting women against their younger selves?
Let’s get one thing clear: faces change. It’s kind of what they do. I’m 35 now, and I sure as hell do not look the same way I looked when I was 25. (Thankfully I look much, much better.) I have a fridge covered in what the internet would undoubtedly dub “throwback photos,” and I remember my boyfriend looking at them a year or so ago and asking me if I had had a nose job. First of all, to be clear — there’s nothing I would love more than a nose job (and a breast lift, and a blepharoplasty), but second, nope, never had one. His question was also posed pre-Botox and pre my one harrowing experience with filler, so he was straight up just comparing my natural ass face to my natural ass younger face.
And if Ford did get a bunch of filler, a nose job, or even a full face transplant, is it really my business? Nope. Not unless she personally calls me up and decides to tell me about it, or if she publicly decides to comment on it and bring others into the conversation. The internet is acting like Ford, and women in general, are hiding something when WE don’t share personal details about the work or treatments we’ve had done, but let me say it again, a little louder for the people in the back: it’s no one’s business. How someone looked in the past isn’t “evidence” of anything. We don’t need to investigate it like it is.
All this to say: let Ford live her life. We’re allowed to evolve, to make changes, to look different. We’re allowed to look worse, and we’re sure as hell allowed to look better. It doesn’t matter whether it’s due to a ChatGPT outlined glow up, age, or 18 pounds of filler to the face. Maybe we should all be a little less concerned with what women are doing with their bodies, and a little more concerned with why some people feel the need to comment on it.
Renee Rodriguez (she/her) is a staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.
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