Earlier this month, The Thorn Birds star, Rachel Ward, popped up on social media to promote her ethical meat initiative, Farmthru. For many, this was the first time they had seen Ward since her acting and modelling heyday in the 1980s. In the intervening 40-odd years, Ward has grown older, and that seemed to upset a few trolls who mouthed off in the comments. Specifically, what irked them was that Ward hadn’t tried to conceal the fact she was older.

Her hair was grey, she was without make-up, and her face was suntanned and wrinkled. In short, she looked like a 68-year-old woman – for the record, she is a 68-year-old woman. “What happened to U dear god shocking,” wrote one viewer, who was so concerned they forgot how to punctuate a sentence. “Wow!! She has aged really, really badly,” added another.

Scrolling through a tidal wave of such comments, I was disappointed to realise that it was overwhelmingly women who were criticising Ward. It was also women who leapt to her defence, primarily by insisting Ward was “still beautiful”. It is a nice thing to say, but doesn’t move the topic on much from looks. She wasn’t there to swap beauty tips; she was there to sell meat.

Then Vanessa Feltz and Lizzie Cundy spoke about their own shocked reaction to Ward’s appearance on Channel Five. “I was shocked by how much she had aged, because I remembered her looking they way she did in the 80s…And I sort of thought she would have made every effort on earth to hang on to that appearance,” said........

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