Beauty and the Famous Face

One cannot stand in a supermarket checkout line without seeing tabloid headlines screaming speculation about the death of Princess Diana in 1997. I was not expecting to see a similar vein on The Post's op-ed page, though.

Eugene Robinson's Dec. 15 column, "The Diana Story We Love," took speculation to a newly insulting level. He wrote that had Princess Diana lived, "she would have the wrinkles and bulges that come with middle age."

Robinson has apparently not seen advertisements from cosmetics companies featuring 50-plus women -- such as Christie Brinkley, Susan Sarandon and Diane Keaton -- with no apparent wrinkles or bulges. For a woman with the resources that were available to Princess Diana, looking good in her 40s would have been easy.

Real beauty, however, cannot be purchased at a cosmetics counter or achieved via a personal trainer. By all accounts Princess Diana was a devoted mother and was deeply involved in her charity work. Living a full, good life and helping others is the best beauty secret of all.

-- Diane M. Bettge

Fairfax

·