In La Rochelle, the spotlight was to be on Audrey Fleurot for her new series, co-produced and carried by her for TF1 and Netflix. Coming to the Fiction Festival with her companion and director Djibril Glissant, the actress had a red carpet, interviews, selfies with fans.
On the networks, however, the conversation drifted elsewhere: his face. Between rumors of cosmetic surgery, accusations of botox and before/after montages, the event relaunched a debate that has followed her for months. Internet users scrutinize every feature, while the person concerned mainly talks about the right to age and the freedom to retouch – or not – one’s image.
La Rochelle, viral videos and deluge of comments on her face
Thursday September 17, Audrey Fleurot appears radiant on the red carpet in La Rochelle, true to her reputation as an accessible, funny and spontaneous star. But under the videos of the evening shared by the media and fans, the same phrases recur: “too redone”, “she was so pretty”, “failed surgery”. The debate no longer concerns the series, but the idea that it would have “touched” his face.
A TikTok video where she is seen signing autographs and posing with the public further fueled suspicion. Some comment on a very smooth forehead, an upper face considered “frozen”, others speak of a face “disfigured by injections”. This mixture of medical assumptions and moral judgments illustrates what is called “botox shaming”: the fact of pointing out and mocking women suspected of injections or cosmetic medicine, to the point of overshadowing their work.
A recurring “botox shaming” which mainly targets actresses
The remarks did not start in La Rochelle. With every recent television appearance, the same refrains recur: “so lifted”, “what a waste”, “she destroyed her face”. The platforms fill with wild diagnoses and nostalgic regrets about “before,” as if an actress had to remain frozen at a specific age to be validated.
Behind these comments lies very targeted body shaming. Actresses are ordered to remain youthful on screen, while being criticized if their features appear to have been photoshopped. The case of Audrey Fleurot clearly shows this double injunction: it is impossible to age peacefully, but it is also forbidden to appear to have had injections, even if no intervention has been confirmed.
What Audrey Fleurot really assumes about cosmetic surgery
In 2024, Audrey Fleurot summed up her discomfort with the social mirror in an interview: “Inside, I am the same as I was at 20. But the gap with the person you are physiologically and what society reflects to you is very confusing. We are hard on actresses: they are not allowed to age and, at the same time, they must not have surgery.” She added: “If, one day, I want to have a facelift, I will do it, because I find it cool to feel better about yourself. I even gave one to my mother! Afterwards, the face has to move without becoming a creature.” However, she has never confirmed or detailed a specific gesture concerning her.
His relationship with the image comes from afar. On TF1, in , she remembered: “Little girl, I was plump, I had braces, glasses!”. With her severe myopia and her red hair, she explained that she had chosen to make it “a standard”. Today, she speaks of a “form of total unconsciousness about everything that is written” about her, described as a protection system. For her, the issue seems less to respond to rumors of cosmetic surgery than to continue working with a face in which she recognizes herself.
