Recently in the news, supermodel Linda Evangelista asked for $46, 000 A MONTH in child support payments from her ex-husband, Francois Henri-Pinault. Most of the money is being spent on their 4-year old son but some of it is, apparently, going to spent on Evangelista herself. After the money spent on the round-the-clock nanny, two armed bodyguards, extracurricular activities, and schooling for the boy it's been reported that Evangelista will also spend the money to maintain herself. Granted, she needs to do alot more upkeep than we "normal" people do, but she certainly has enough money herself without having to spend any of her ex-husband's. After all, this is one of the supermodels who wouldn't get out of bed if she was making less than $10, 000 that day.

When one thinks about all the different beauty treatments out there, as well as their price tag, it makes sense, actually. Think about it, a supermodel has a trainer, get her hair, nails, and feet done. She also has facials and uses luxurious skin products on a day-to-day basis. One bottle of moisturizer can cost over $100. That may be nothing to someone like, say Jennifer Aniston who reputedly spends over $10, 000 a month on beauty treatments, but the rest of us mere mortals can't spend nearly that amount. Even rich people are having to cut back. I remember a trip to California one year where I was sitting in a restaurant and overhearing a woman talking about how she could no longer afford her weekly beauty appointments, and she looked as rich as rich can be.

It is true that some of the more effective beauty treatments, like microdermabrasion and glycolic acid peels, do cost more than an at-home mud mask, but they are supposedly very effective. That being said, there are some truly outrageous beauty treatments out there. One can now have a facial that includes a mask of 24-karat gold, get a massage using real diamonds, and even have one's hair washed using a truffle based shampoo followed by a caviar hair treatment.

You have to wonder where it will all end. While it's great that Evangelista, Aniston and others who make the kind of money they do can now afford these treatments (after all, they probably started using drugstore or department store products like most of us do) it certainly isn't necessary. I doubt very much that Evangelista could always afford all the beauty treatments she now uses and yet she was still discovered and went on to become one of the biggest models ever. As for Aniston, we all know that when she was discovered her nose does not look as it does now, not to mention all the other actresses, models, and musicians who have gone under the knife once they made it big. If any of you recall the original Beverly Hills, 90210 or Melrose Place, you probably noticed at one point that most of the actresses got breast augmentation at one point. Lets not forget about face lifts and wrinkle fillers. Wrinkle fillers, particularly, are so common among Hollywood actresses that they can no longer display emotion on their face like their counterparts from the pre-Botox era.

Such practices set a standard that most women will never be able to achieve unless they have that kind of cash. But do we want to? If I decided to get Angelina Jolie's lips, Jennifer Lopez's butt, Scarlett Johansson's breasts, and Natalie Portman's cheekbones on I would no longer look like myself (and I wouldn't be able to stand up straight anymore). As for beauty treatments, you wouldn't believe how much money you can save by doing your own facial, manicure, and pedicure using products bought at drugstores and department stores. Beauty supply stores are great too as they often carry high priced brands at a fraction of the cost.

In closing, I leave you with this thought for the week: Women are encouraged to grow old gracefully. Okay, then why is it that even by evolutionary standards younger women are considered more desirable? We cover those first greys and fret over those first lines and wrinkles in order to appear more youthful because society seems to favour younger women. Of course once we hit a certain age trying to appear younger than we are makes us appear older, and makes us look ridiculous. I have seen 50-year old women with blonde extensions, talons so long and fake they could double as weapons, dressed as teenagers, all botoxed, with big fake boobs and lips,. It's not a pretty sight, and for all I know they were in their 40s but looked so bad it made them look older than they were. Perhaps what we women should do is try to maintain our looks using proper nutrition, getting exercise, and taking care of ourselves without going to extremes. Helen Mirren is a perfect example of someone who is growing old gracefully and was even voted recently as having the best celebrity body. Of course, I don't know if she's had any work done either....