Friday, October 19, 2007

The Fake Justine Bateman

Have you ever known someone famous? Me, not really.

When I was in high school, however, I knew a girl who looked remarkably like Justine Bateman. Justine Bateman was a young actress on Family Ties, the middle sibling Malory Keeton.

I have not seen the show since it went off the air – I am guessing that the show was a little dated. It dealt with the roaring '80s, and it was one of the most popular shows when I was in high school. Anyway, I can remember talking with fake Malory, and it was interesting. She would go to the mall, and people would ask her if she was the actress. She would be at the pool in the summer and people would take pictures of her. And every once in a while, she would pretend to be Justine Bateman.

I mean, if you think about it, having a "famous double" is something that many schools probably have. Especially in the '80s, when there were fewer hairstyles, fewer popular clothing choices.

If I could have a celebrity double (when in high school) I would have chosen Dana Plato– but I guess I confused her role on Diff'rent Strokes with her real life role. She had all sorts of problems, and killed herself in 1999. I just liked her Kimberly role – she had a rich daddy, was clever and liked by most. She was also extremely tolerant and did well in school. Again, I wanted to be her character, not her person. She was a tragic character in real life.

When I was googling Justine Bateman just now, I saw a recent picture of her. Er, she has not aged gracefully. It sort of makes me want to look up my old classmate and see if she has similar wrinkles.

Maybe I don't want to be like a celebrity.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd seen Justine Bateman in the short lived "Men Behaving Badly" series - she didn't look good there either. Carrie Fisher is another who hasn't aged well, which makes sense considering her lifestyle. On the other hand, Yoko Shimada (the woman who played the lead in the miniseries Shogun) just posed nude for a magazine this year. I also saw her in an unfortunately non-nude interview around the same time for the 30 year anniversary of Shogun. She looks like an attractive woman in her early 40's, despite being 54. I recommend becoming Asian at once.

- Grant

Anonymous said...

Justine looks like a hippy chick. Little botox here little face stretching there, she's back in business.

The chick from Full House "Game Plan" with The Rock. She aged well.

~Jef

Southern (in)Sanity said...

Justine Bateman was a "crush" of mine back in her "Family Ties" days.

I haven't seen any recent pictures of her, but it doesn't sound like I should search them out.

kathi said...

She's in the series Men In Trees with Anne Heche. She kind of reminds me of the Seinfeld girl that was pretty, but horrid in shadows. Sometimes she looks...like a natural sort of beauty. Other times, uhhhhhmmm, not so much. :)

Ian Lidster said...

Justine Bateman, hmm. I used to have a sort of TV crush on her when she was Mallory. I thought she was very cute. Actually, she was in a couple of episodes of Arrested Development and the premise was quite hilarious. She played a high class callgirl who linked up with the character her brother Jason played. And, he was very hot for her. But, it turned out that she was actually his sister. And, of course, art was imitating life, with implications of potential incest at a couple of levels. Anyway, if you looked like Justine Bateman in high school, that would have been, in my eyes, a very good thing. And now, of course, you look better than she does. So, you win.

Deb said...

It’s funny, because they actually hire celebrity look-alikes in order to give the paparazzi the red herring. I always found it interesting when I hear that each person has a twin out there. I found one at work and her name was Deb too! We both looked alike, same hair, same face, same body---everything. Someone said, “Deb, you gotta walk over to this department, because you have a twin, I swear!” I walked over, saw her…saw “me”, and she looked as though she was scared out of her wits or just lost her mind. That’s how much we looked alike. Scary to have two Debs in the world though.

Tragic story about Dana Plato. Even the older brother had some serious struggles (in the show) but in real life, he had some problems. Sad how “fortunate people” become so unfortunate.

And Justine Bateman? All I think about are rolled up sleeves, big hair and shoulder pads.

ha! I hated the 80's!

Leesa said...

grant: That is the problem with being white - asian, African Americans, have much better skin over time. Less wrinkles.

edge: Full House? I did not really watch that show. I think the Olson twins started on that show.

rwa: and I had a crush on M. J. Fox.

kathi: shaddows do a number on wrinkles.

ian: thanks, sweetie.

~deb: so when you are famous, you have already found your body double.

Deb said...

I'm far from famous. Maybe notorious would be a better word! ;) I have found my double, she is roaming the earth somewhere on this planet scary as that may sound!

Anonymous said...

We just don't expect celebrities to age. I'm always relieved when I see one whose lips don't look swollen with botox and whose face doesn't look pinched and plastic.

Anonymous said...

I, too, thought Justine was "totally cute" as Mallory. So I Googled her to see what this aging badly thing looks like. You know what? She's still totally cute! I see nice even features, sharp blue eyes, and beautiful full lips with a warm, welcoming smile. So... being fortyish comes with a few wrinkles, so what? Justine, don't go anywhere near those botox-boys!

Nilesh Shukla said...

Hey Justine yet looks young..

Nilesh Shukla