While you may be jealous of that woman who looks like a model sitting next to you on the train, she may not be so happy about her good looks. Believe it or not, some women don’t find happiness in being beautiful.
A woman named Jane Curnow says her beauty made her depressed, claiming women were “jealous and resentful” towards her, and that even included her friends, who she says dropped her because of all the attention she got from men. She says she also became obsessed with maintaining her beauty, which she soon learned wasn’t making her happy.
Then there’s 44-year-old Katinda Ndola, who is happy about her looks, noting it’s like “winning the genetic lottery,” but admits she deals with problems as well. She says women were often threatened by her, and she soon became conscious that most people thought she was successful because of her looks, not because of her talent.
There is little research out there on how someone’s good looks can affect them negatively, but there’s no doubt some women are discriminated against and not respected at work because of their looks.
Health and wellbeing psychologist, Marny Lishman, adds that if friends seem to be jealous of your looks, it’s probably time to find new ones. “Find a new set of people that make you feel good and stick with them,” Lishman notes. “Beauty is about feeling good about yourself on the inside, as well as the out.”