Ann Curry Says NBC Didn’t Like Her Grey Hair, Colorful Outfits and Flat Shoes
Is former Today Show anchor Ann Curry the victim of ageism and sexism? In a new interview in Ladies Home Journal – which, interestingly, was conducted before she was fired from The Today Show, Ann Curry dished about the choices her NBC bosses didn’t like – including her hair, clothes and shoes.
“One day I wore a multicoloured dress and someone asked if I was trying to be Toucan Sam,” Ann explained. “But I chose it because I thought, this will perk up America. I’m encouraged by my bosses to wear these ridiculously high heel shoes because women say: ‘I love your shoes!’ So if it makes women happy, I’ll wear them. But I’m still going to be me.” She also said, “I’ve tried to wear clogs and flats and it hasn’t gone over very well with my bosses.”
NBC also disapproved of the grey streaks in Ann’s hair. “I’ve got cellulite because it runs in my family,” she said. “I’ve got gray hair because I won’t dye it. I want to be about to honour my family by looking exactly as they did as they got older.”
“Of course I want to look my best,” says the 55 year-old. “I eat right, exercise and use skin cream. I try to wear nice clothes. But I don’t want to change the fundamental parts of me because it means changing who I am.” She was trying to change the idea that women aren’t allowed to go grey on TV; “I think showing some gray is authentic…true beauty is a face you have lived in,” she said.
“We constantly punish ourselves with degrading thoughts when we look at ourselves in the mirror,” Ann said of women. “We allow people to treat us poorly, we allow our husbands or boyfriends to get away with things or we have relationships with girlfriends or colleagues who don’t treat us well. We don’t defend ourselves as we would our own children. Women have demanded and gotten better jobs and more power. But the one thing we deserve is a better relationship with ourselves. We waste too much time beating ourselves up. I think at my age of 55, it’s time to stop doing that.”
I appreciate Ann’s positive message, but it’s hard to look past the lesson of her story: if you try to be yourself and fight against the status quo, you’ll get fired.
Suddenly I’ve never been so glad that Zooey Deschanel wears flats on The New Girl…maybe viewers will start to believe they can like women who aren’t wearing 5-inch heels?
