Joshua Goldman
Joshua Goldman
min read · June 22, 2025 · Entertainment

The New Face of 30: Why Age Looks Different Now

Back in the '90s, the face of a 30-something-year-old looked very different than it does now. Seinfeld character George Costanza, who is 31 in the show, is seen

The Secret's Out: Celebs' Age-Defying Secrets Revealed!

In a shocking twist, it seems like age is just a number - and not just for celebrities! Gone are the days when you could pinpoint someone's age by their appearance. Thanks to advanced beauty treatments, cutting-edge skincare routines, and subtle plastic surgery tweaks, the guessing game has become almost impossible.

Take Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, for instance. When fans discovered she was a whopping 37 years young, they were left stunned! And it's not just her - Anne Hathaway's radiant glow at the Moncler Grenoble Fall/Winter 2025 Show sent shockwaves through social media, with the 42-year-old actress looking like a spring chicken.

Thanks to beauty treatments, sophisticated skincare routines, the subtle plastic surgery, someone's age is getting harder to figure out. Ariana Grande, age 31, is seen

But Kris Jenner, almost 70 and rocking a new look that left fans gagging, took the cake. It seems like social media has single-handedly changed the perception of what middle-age looks like - and we're not just talking about celebrities!

"TV shows like Cheers or Seinfeld used to paint a different picture," explains Dr. Ann Monis, a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist at Medical Anti-Aging, in an exclusive interview with TheScholarlyNote.com. "Characters would appear much older than what we perceive people in their 30s as looking today."

The secret to this age-defying phenomenon? Cosmetic procedures have become the new normal - especially on social media! Influencers and public figures are sharing their injectables, skin treatments, and surgical tweaks, shifting our expectations of what's typical for 30-year-olds.

In the past, TV shows like Cheers (seen) or Seinfeld very painted a different image of what a person in this 30s looks like

"It's not just cultural; it's psychological too," Dr. Monis reveals. "Repetition changes how the brain sets expectations. When someone sees the same kind of edited or altered face over and over, the brain will start treating that image as the baseline. It becomes the new 'normal' - even though it's not natural or accurate!"

The experts agree: what used to be considered early signs of aging is now something people feel they need to erase before it fully appears. And it's happening earlier than ever! "What used to be middle age may have been 50, but now I think a lot of times middle age may be 70," says Dr. Joshua Korman, a board-certified plastic surgeon and founder of Korman Plastic Surgery.

So, what's the ideal face of a 30-year-old? According to Dr. Korman, it's "no pimples and no wrinkles." And how do they achieve this? By turning to technologies and medications to make their skin look more rejuvenated - even in their 20s and as they approach 30.

People were recently left stunned when they found out that Bridgeton star Nicola Coughlan (seen) was 37

But here's the kicker: we age in four ways, which can be remedied through various treatments. We age with gravity, volume loss, skin texture, and dynamic wrinkles (the kind that appear when we smile). And surgical stuff deals with gravity!

Dr. Monis warns that this normalized surgical approach to halting age has resulted in an unrealistic standard being set - something she's personally noticed. "Patients will bring in filtered photos, not to say they want to look enhanced, but because they believe that's how people their age actually look." And this can lead to people constantly aiming for a version of 30 that's not even grounded in reality.

"The constant exposure to curated faces has trained people to see youth as a polished look, not a stage of life," she says. "It's like we're trying to achieve an unattainable standard."

Fans were left stunned over Anne Hathaway's youthful appearance in March

So, there you have it - the secrets behind celebrities' age-defying appearances are out! But will this trend continue to shape our perception of middle-age? Only time will tell.