Val Kilmer - Then
Val Kilmer started out on the stage and then moved into acting. His first screen role was in an ABC Afterschool Special starring opposite a young Michelle Pfeiffer back in 1983. He would go on to star opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun by the end of the decade and by the mid-1990s, Val Kilmer was considered to be seriously hot property.
He famously beat out 1980s pop icon Michael Hutchence of INXS to play Jim Morrison of The Doors in Oliver Stone’s blockbuster movie about the band. His role in Heat with De Niro and Pacino is often considered to be his finest.
Val Kilmer - Now
The years certainly haven’t been kind to Val’s waistline and he’s packed on the pounds and as he’s become larger – he’s disappeared from the big and small screens. After years of increasing weight, he shocked fans with a dramatic turnaround, claiming on Twitter to be back down to 165 pounds.
However, that doesn’t mean that Val’s career is over. In fact, he’s been performing Citizen Twain which is a play of his own creation and stars only him. He even won a Grammy Award for his spoken word work in 2012. Rumors about a sequel to Top Gun could also be an inspiration for getting back into shape.
Mickey Rourke - Then
Mickey Rourke began his career in comedy in the movie Diner in 1982. While that didn’t exactly break new ground it was1986’s 9½Weeks and 1987’s Angel Heart which showed his acting talent and his willingness to tackle taboo subject matter in his roles brought him to the forefront of stardom.
While tame by today’s standards, these films both propelled him as a sex symbol along with his costars, Kim Basinger and Lisa Bonet. In 1991, however, Rourke decided that he’d had enough of acting and quit the silver screen for the boxing ring. He’d trained as a boxer when he was younger. His boxing career lasted three years. The years haven’t been kind to Mickey Rourke as you’re about to discover.
Mickey Rourke - Now
Rourke picked up a few minor acting roles in the 90s when he returned to acting from the boxing ring. Although his face was badly damaged from his time on the fight scene, his talent allowed him to work steadily, often portraying misfits and misunderstood tough guys.
Yet, it wasn’t until 2005’s Sin City that Rourke had another significant starring role. It was his performance in 2009’s The Wrestler that would lead to a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination. Our next stunning star was an 80’s wonder but is completely unrecognizable in the 2010’s.
Kathleen Turner - Then
In the 1980s it was hard to go to the movies and not see Kathleen Turner. She had a hugely successful stint as the lead in movies such as Body Heat, Romancing the Stone, Prizzi’s Honor, The War of the Roses, and Peggy Sue Got Married.
Her smoldering good looks and sultry voice made her the perfect choice when Hollywood was looking to fill the role of femme fatale. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award during that decade. She also did the voice over for Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Kathleen Turner - Now
Kathleen Turner’s transformation from sex siren into an ordinary person was beyond her control. In the 1990s she developed rheumatoid arthritis, a disease which gave her unbearable, crippling pain and threatened to leave her in a wheelchair. The medication prescribed for her treatment caused a general weight gain and bloating.
In addition, she turned to the bottle to battle her discomfort and it compounded the damage on her good looks. Luckily, her arthritis has gone into remission in recent years and she has appeared in a number of guest roles, including appearances on Friends, Nip/Tuck, and Californication. Next up is an almost unrecognizable Sally Struthers.
Sally Struthers - Then
Sally Struthers stole American hearts when she played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Edith and Archie Bunker, in Norman Lear’s groundbreaking sitcom, All in the Family.
Struthers’ Gloria was known for her blonde pigtails and defiant attitude in dealing with her opinionated and overbearing father. From then on in, things were plain sailing for Sally as she became one of the best-loved talents in American TV. Here she is today and her transformation isn’t the most glaring you’re about to see.
Sally Struthers - Now
We can’t expect every bombshell working in Hollywood to maintain their youthful appearance, especially if they choose to age like a normal person. Following her decreasing stardom, Struthers became a big-time advocate for the Christian Children’s Fund (now ChildFund) and works to help starving and needy children in developing nations.
Struthers has also been satirized twice in TV’s South Park in episodes about a starving child named “Starvin’ Marvin.” The joke revolves around Struthers’ overeating in contrast with her endeavors to help people who don’t have enough to eat, suggesting that she was hoarding food. Lara Flynn Boyle is up next and her change is appearance is sad and of her own making!
Laura Palmer - Then
Twin Peaks was simultaneously a cult classic and a major television hit of the late 80s and early 90s. David Lynch’s peculiar take on small-town life reeling from the circumstances surrounding the mysterious murder of Laura Palmer captured the imagination of the public around the world.
If there was a face of Twin Peaks, it was Lara Flynn Boyle, who starred in both seasons of the show’s short run as Donna Howard, Laura’s close friend who becomes obsessed with solving the murder. She didn’t, however, star in the movie sequel and refused a role in the new TV series which aired in 2017. Here’s Lara Flynn Boyle today with a brief explanation of what happened to her trademark looks.
Laura Palmer - Now
Plastic surgeons have a lot to answer for with many of the people on our list. Lara Flynn Boyle is no longer the sexy TV actress of her youth. One plastic surgeon cruelly said of her transformation: “Her face looks like its melting. Now it’s deflated.”
It’s not difficult to understand how a young beauty might feel the pressure to maintain their looks with risky procedures from unscrupulous doctors as they age but it explains why her star faded after her brilliant Twin Peaks performance. The next guy on our list released one of the biggest rock albums of all time and now he’s a complete trainwreck.
Axl Rose - Then
1987 was a golden year for hard rock music and its undisputed kings were Guns’n’Roses, fronted by the lithe and limber, controversial-but-not-just-for-wearing-bike-shorts-on stage, Axl Rose. The album, “Appetite for Destruction,” has sold more than 30 million copies globally and the follow-up “Use Your Illusion” sold another 35 million.
Back then, Rose was famous not only for having an incredible vocal range but for inciting riots and throwing liquor bottles at fans during live performances. All that hard partying led to what you’re about to see next…
Axl Rose - Now
If you’re not working all that often, it’s easy to start comfort eating. That’s apparently what happened to Axl Rose who has gone from the tight bodied youth of yesteryear to a possible replacement for Meatloaf. On Twitter, he extols the virtues of Taco Bell.
Apparently, his love of excess living turned into one Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunches too many. He’s on his way back though. In 2016 he took over the job of fronting for AC/DC on tour and Guns’n’Roses have reformed and are about to conduct a global tour too. Next, we HAVE to ask… What happened to Boy George. OMG!
Boy George - Then
Boy George was born George Alan O’Dowd, and he headed up one of the biggest pop sensations of the 1980s, Culture Club. Originally discovered by the Sex Pistol’s manager Malcolm McLaren, George stood out as a London club kid known for his eccentric style and wild behavior.
His androgynous and colorful approach to dressing and presentation made him immediately recognizable to legions of fans throughout the world. But there was a period of years where we don’t think a single fan would recognize him…
Boy George - Now
Unfortunately for Boy George, things didn’t go well for a long period after the band split up. As he later revealed in interviews, the break up of Culture Club was really the downfall of a romantic relationship between George and Jon Moss, the drummer for the band. George also developed an ever-growing heroin addiction and the tragic loss of their keyboard player from an overdose.
This culminated in his serving a substantial prison sentence for imprisoning and then violently assaulting a rent boy. Boy George served his time and is now making something of a comeback. He writes books, designs clothes, is an active photographer and still writes songs. He’s turned his life around and looks much healthier these days than he did in his rock-bottom years (shown in the photo above).
Bruce Jenner - Then
Bruce Jenner won the 1976 Olympic Gold Medal for the decathlon. He had begun his career as a college football star and was playing for the Graceland Yellowjackets before an injury put a halt to football. He attended the Montreal Summer Olympics after being persuaded by Coach L D Weldon to try the decathlon instead of football.
He set three world records on his path to gold and glory and was considered to be the “world’s greatest athlete.” From then on Jenner was a media darling as he attempted to capitalize on his Olympic fame. Most famously he appeared as the long-time spokesman for the iconic Wheaties brand of breakfast cereal.
Bruce Jenner - Now
In his later years, Bruce Jenner was once again thrust into the spotlight as Kris Jenner’s husband on the reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. It was during this time that Jenner was able to reveal to the world that he had been dealing with a secret for most of his life. He felt that he had been born in the wrong body but due to the prejudices of his time, he never told anyone.
In April 2015 that all changed. Bruce came forward and admitted that he was now a trans woman. In July 2015 Bruce became Caitlyn Jenner and she has become one of the best-known trans people on the face of the planet. It’s not the fountain of youth but you probably wouldn’t recognize him on the street if you didn’t know about his transition.
Rupert Everett - Then
Rupert Everett won a BAFTA award for his first ever role as Julian Mitchell in Another Country in 1984. He played an openly gay student in a 1930s English school. He had a reputation for playing bad boys and his smoldering good looks made him a shoo-in for parts in movies throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Everett even tried (unsuccessfully) to turn his popularity in to a music career as a pop star with his album, Generation of Loneliness. But it was too late, the public saw him only as an amazing actor and were not interested in his musical endeavors.
Rupert Everett - Now
There’s nothing wrong with the way Rupert looks now but he’s nearly unrecognizable from the fresh-faced boy that once graced the silver screen. Recently he has appeared in Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and before that in the Shrek movies and the Chronicles of Narnia.
Aside from being outspoken on a number of political and social issues, such as decriminalizing prostitution and same-sex marriage, he has also taken up writing and had two memoirs and a screenplay published. Clearly, there has always been more than just what lurks on the surface for this modern Renaissance man.