16 Famous, Glorious Women With Armpit Hair
Photo: AIE Magazine, Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche, Mark Cuthbert
This week, the Cut explores women’s complicated relationship to beauty standards and the effort required to meet them.
Can you remember the first time you were informed you were doing your body wrong? I was 13, lying in the grass in the park with another girl, arms behind my head, eyes closed. She sat up, pointed at my armpits, and frowned. “I’m disappointed in you,” she said, and I immediately went home and, wheezing in panic, shaved for the first time.
This kind of sequence: the spoken and unspoken expectations, the horror and shame of not measuring up — it’s not just a growing-up thing. We all know this. And we know too that when women disobey the rules of bodies — let their roots grow out, go out without makeup, or stop shaving, the world flips out.
There are many who limit their explorations of the art of armpit bush to their rebellious days of college and Gender Studies 101, and others who put down the razor permanently. Click through the slideshow for a look at the members of the very exclusive Paparazzi Pits Club: celebrity women, from Penélope Cruz to Madonna, who dared to go natural for once (or twice, or more).
Madonna Madonna’s caption for this was “Long hair…….Don’t Care!!!!!! #artforfreedom #rebelheart #revolutionoflove.” Well into her 50s, she is sti...
Madonna Madonna’s caption for this was “Long hair…….Don’t Care!!!!!! #artforfreedom #rebelheart #revolutionoflove.” Well into her 50s, she is still doing her thing, her way, throwing middle fingers to those who don’t love her, and getting flak for it. But she just gets stronger with age. Plus, her bra here is on point.
Photo: Madonna/Instagram.com
Sophia Loren The undying magic of Sophia Loren is that she can do whatever she wants and know everyone will love her anyway. Can you look at this...
Sophia Loren The undying magic of Sophia Loren is that she can do whatever she wants and know everyone will love her anyway. Can you look at this picture and really say she’s anything less than sensuality defined? Not really.
Photo: Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche/Getty Images
Lisa Bonet Sheer shirt with top hat. Braless, gratuitous sideboob. Blue sunglasses and a sideways smirk with armpit fuzz. Behold, the prototype f...
Lisa Bonet Sheer shirt with top hat. Braless, gratuitous sideboob. Blue sunglasses and a sideways smirk with armpit fuzz. Behold, the prototype for hot women of the '90s and also 2010-era Bushwick.
Photo: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Patti Smith How many of us have found this album in a low moment, and absorbed not only the power and passion and guts of her music, but the visi...
Patti Smith How many of us have found this album in a low moment, and absorbed not only the power and passion and guts of her music, but the vision of how amazing she looked, serene in a thin slip, delicate jewelry, and messy hair? She makes armpit hair a non-issue, a non-statement. She just is.
Julia Roberts In an era when celebs hire beauty teams to spend half the day grooming them to antiseptic perfection, when America’s Sweetheart cou...
Julia Roberts In an era when celebs hire beauty teams to spend half the day grooming them to antiseptic perfection, when America’s Sweetheart could so easily have done what the people expect of her and gone to this premiere all prim and proper, Julia Roberts bucked the trend. She did what she wanted, stepping out in the fresh, devil-may-care combination of slouchy red sequin gown, glowing skin, and fuzzy pits. Her giant smile swallows up all opposition.
Photo: Mark Cuthbert/Getty Images
Drew Barrymore There was once an era (hello, 2005) where Drew Barrymore wore blue eye shadow, slinky black slips, and lots of pit hair while...
Drew Barrymore There was once an era (hello, 2005) where Drew Barrymore wore blue eye shadow, slinky black slips, and lots of pit hair while hanging out with Marc Jacobs. Today, she sells blue eyes hadow, sometimes hangs out with Marc Jacobs, and still lets her pit hair roam free. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Hats off to the ageless flower child who dwells in Drew.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Kelly Rowland You’ve got to admit — it’s a little bit revolutionary that Kelly Rowland would go to a Beauty Awards Ceremony without being hairles...
Kelly Rowland You’ve got to admit — it’s a little bit revolutionary that Kelly Rowland would go to a Beauty Awards Ceremony without being hairless. Sad commentary on the beauty world, yes, but there you are.
Photo: Eamonn McCormack/Getty Images
Beyoncé Another member of the Destiny’s Child tribe was a one-time member of the Hairy Pits Club ... or at least, visited it. It looks lik...
Beyoncé Another member of the Destiny’s Child tribe was a one-time member of the Hairy Pits Club ... or at least, visited it. It looks like Queen Bey did not actually finish shaving entirely before a visit with her peons (a.k.a. the rest of humanity). I wonder if she sings "Pretty Hurts" when she’s waxing?
Photo: Getty Images
Juliette Lewis Juliette Lewis once wore a brown ruffled pantsuit with side slits that accented her pit hair wonderfully. Take a step back and the...
Juliette Lewis Juliette Lewis once wore a brown ruffled pantsuit with side slits that accented her pit hair wonderfully. Take a step back and the look reads as one very beautiful, bronzed armpit. Performance art. It actually falls neatly in line with her who-gives-a-damn music persona as the lead singer of Juliette and the Licks, though most people know her as an actress in movies like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Natural Born Killers.
Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Britney Spears Please note the 2003-trendy Kabbalah bracelet combined with the quintessential '00s makeup of shimmer eye shadow and coral blush w...
Britney Spears Please note the 2003-trendy Kabbalah bracelet combined with the quintessential '00s makeup of shimmer eye shadow and coral blush with a touch of gloss. Throw in the hairy pits and you have a quiet BritBrit revolution of politics and performance.
Amanda Palmer Palmer is also one for theatrics, with over-the-top makeup, sheer dresses, intense eyebrow game, and hairy pits forever.
Photo: Ad...
Amanda Palmer Palmer is also one for theatrics, with over-the-top makeup, sheer dresses, intense eyebrow game, and hairy pits forever.
Photo: Adam Berry/Getty Images
Beth Ditto Following in the footsteps of Patti Smith (in so many ways), Beth Ditto graced the cover of Tte Gossip’s 2006 album with visible ...
Beth Ditto Following in the footsteps of Patti Smith (in so many ways), Beth Ditto graced the cover of Tte Gossip’s 2006 album with visible armpit hair. Unlike Patti Smith, she took an aggressive stance about it, arms thrown up in either defense or fighting mode — hard to tell — and the ambiguity is part of the appeal. Ditto is unapologetic about being a fat girl in a thin-obsessed business, so of course she doesn’t blink when faced with the armpit police.
Photo: Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images
Kathleen Hanna Legendary for her role in the riot-grrrl scene (and admirably resistant to that anointment), Hanna eagerly faces down the partriar...
Kathleen Hanna Legendary for her role in the riot-grrrl scene (and admirably resistant to that anointment), Hanna eagerly faces down the partriarchy in every project she takes on, from Bikini Kill to Le Tigre to her solo work. How many girls were introduced to '90s-era punk, nevermind feminism, via Hanna’s voice? Her politics — shouted and sung, written on her body — have long included a passionate embrace of total bodily autonomy, which is why it comes to no surprise she lets her pit hair grow whenever she feels like it.
Photo: Gary Miller/Getty Images
Helena Bonham Carter Wearing mismatched silk Vivienne Westwood shoes to movie premieres, wearing two pairs of sunglasses at once while airing her...
Helena Bonham Carter Wearing mismatched silk Vivienne Westwood shoes to movie premieres, wearing two pairs of sunglasses at once while airing her pits out: Helena Bonham Carter truly and utterly lives to do as she pleases. This is why we love her.
Photo: Martin Karius/Rex/REX USA
Barbra Streisand What if Barbra had listened to her mom, or any of the other haters, who said she just wasn’t conventionally pretty enough t...
Barbra Streisand What if Barbra had listened to her mom, or any of the other haters, who said she just wasn’t conventionally pretty enough to succeed in showbiz? We would have missed out. Hugely. This woman is the best-selling female artist of all time, people! Here, at age 20 (and gorgeous!), she even had the guts to flash a little underarm fuzz. We wouldn’t change a thing.
Penélope Cruz Repeatedly voted one of the sexiest women alive by the great minds at Empire, Maxim, AskMen, Esquire, and Men's Health, Pen&...
Penélope Cruz Repeatedly voted one of the sexiest women alive by the great minds at Empire, Maxim, AskMen, Esquire, and Men's Health, Penélope Cruz has also repeatedly pushed back against this alleged honor, and her acting work — especially in Volver and Vicky Cristina Barcelona — makes it clear she’s way more than just a pretty face. She’s also dedicated to making all women feel beautiful: When she guest edited French Vogue in 2010, she focused on bringing plus-size models on board. So of course — as shown on the cover of AI & — she’s okay with letting her pit hair roam free. Photo: A��e Magazine
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