What the Hell Happened to Kathleen Turner?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Kathleen Turner
TMC-4 — 13 years ago(January 26, 2013 01:34 AM)
http://lebeauleblog.com/2011/07/04/what-the-hell-happened-to-kathleen- turner/
She started her career as the 80′s answer to a femme fatale. She became an international sex symbol. She could do action, drama and comedy and even voiced Jessica Rabbit. And then she dropped out of sight. No longer a sex symbol, she is best known to some TV viewers as Chandler Bings cross-dressing dad on Friends. What the hell happened? -
ap713 — 13 years ago(March 14, 2013 04:14 PM)
Indeed Turner was gorgeous in her prime. Don't know much about her, some people tend to let go as they age or just don't age very well. Regardless, she's still a terrific actress, albeit not the sex symbol she once was.
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Lavitanuova2 — 12 years ago(June 17, 2013 04:02 PM)
My guess is that her alcoholism was a steady slide from the time she was diagnosed with RA. Prior to her taking the stronger biologic drugs..which they really didn't have in the early 90's when she was diagnosed, I'm sure that is when she began to self-medicate. Then taking steroids, with the inevitable weight gain..only made it worse. I don't think that people should be too hard on her. It is a horrible, painful disease. I know because I have it myselfand I did my share of drinking. Anything to dull the pain. My heart goes out to her, and anyone with RA. It sucks!
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TMC-4 — 10 years ago(August 25, 2015 12:29 AM)
http://lebeauleblog.com/2011/07/04/what-the-hell-happened-to-kathleen-turner/10/
So what the hell happened?
In her prime, Turner had a reputation for being difficult. The New York Times once referred to her as a certifiable diva. Turner herself admitted that she had developed into not a very kind person. If Turner thought someone was full of beep shed call them out on it. That sort of behavior is admired when a man does it. But its less accepta2000ble in Hollywood when an actress speaks her mind.
Obviously, Turners disease was a major obstacle. Even now, rheumatoid arthritis is a crippling disease. But in the early 90s, the disease was not well-understood. So much so that Turner felt the need to keep her disease a secret in order to avoid losing work. According to Turner, it was better to be thought of as an alcoholic than a sick person.
The disease and her treatments changed her appearance. In addition to everything else the disease took from her, it robbed Turner of her movie star looks. Since no one knew about the disease, people assumed that Turner had merely let herself go. Leading roles in movies disappeared almost immediately.
But in spite of these obstacles, Turner has remained a working actress for nearly four decades. Cinemas loss was the theaters gain. Today, Turner works primarily as a stage actress while occasionally appearing in TV shows and movies. According to Turner, shes getting more work today than she was a decade ago:
Im edging now into that territory where a lot of us have been winnowed out. The competitions getting smaller. Maybe therell be more movies because they can be a lot of fun. And I could still do my stage work too, so its a nice balance. I could never see myself committing to a TV series for years on end, but I like to pop in and do little characters. -
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torjenio — 12 years ago(June 19, 2013 08:52 PM)
I still like her:) She was and it is a great person. I wish I could meet her in real life and talk with her. Has any f you met her? I could find any fan photos with her, not even on
www.99celebrities.com -
larpine — 12 years ago(August 05, 2013 10:04 PM)
A lot of the problem stems from long term use of Prednisone to combat RA. Prednisone is a class of drugs which amongst other things, does a number on the kidney and liver functions. Combined with alcohol abuse, which also impacts the two organs, the system largely loses it's ability to digest food and beverages properly, so as with a lot of people, Ms. Turner's body retains fluids and fat.
Another obvious is that she's still smokes, so besides sounding like a man, her facial tissue, not to mention heart and lungs, have deteriorated terribly. Again, her smoking combined with the effects of the steroid on the heart muscle means that her odds of a long life expectancy is significantly reduced. -
SataiDelen — 12 years ago(September 28, 2013 06:17 PM)
Thank you for the info. I kept thinking maybe surgery, but she doesn't look like she's had surgery. It just looked like weight gain, but at the same time, something about her face looks like more than weight gain though. So, the explanation of health issues, mixed with long-time smoking, and more recent problems with medications, well, that explains a lot.
And no, none of this has anything to do with her acting. She is and always has been a good, strong actress. I was just trying to figure out the reason for why she looks as she does.
Also, in regard to her voice, yes, some of it is due to the smoking, but she also trained her voice to sound as it does (I remember her explaining how she did it) because if you listen to her in Romancing the Stone, she doesn't sound like this, and she smoked then, too. -
Ultimist — 11 years ago(December 26, 2014 02:49 AM)
I know your post is over a year old, but I have to ask this in case you're still around
Who are you and why did you jump in at the end of this conversation as though you had been participating all along? You have exactly one post in this thread, so why are you trying to be the one to explain the intentions of the original poster?
You're weird.