Gwen Stefani has sparked a debate online after a recent public appearance, where she appeared looking slightly different.
Stefani appeared on the Late Night with Seth Myers, where she talked about her role on the singing competition show The Voice.
However, viewers were much more interested in her looks than the conversation.
But before we dive deep into that, let’s take a look at some of the world’s most beloved stars’ transformations…
1990: Michelle Pfeiffer…
She was 32.
Michelle Pfeiffer was one of the most prolific actresses at the time.
And it’s not surprising she was recognized for her beauty.
She won her breakout role in 1983 in the hit gangster movie Scarface as Elvira Hancock.
And her fame only skyrocketed from there.
Pfeiffer became one of the decade’s highest-paid female performers.
She has received countless awards throughout her career…
Including a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, as well as dozens of nominations for her work on screen.
1991: Julia Roberts…
She was 24.
Now, Roberts is a Hollywood icon, known for playing a range of different roles over the years.
But her leading roles in some of our favorite romantic comedies all took place in the ’90s.
So it’s easy to see why she got the “most beautiful person” of 1991.
Pretty Woman (1990) is still a classic…
It grossed a whopping $464 million worldwide.
She went on to star in dozens of successful movies after that…
Including Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and Runaway Bride (1999), need we say more?
1992: Jodie Foster…
She was 30.
Foster has been in the entertainment industry her whole life.
Starting out with modeling aged just 3 years old, she began acting in 1968 with the sitcom Mayberry R.F.D.
She got a taste for the big screen, and after featuring in numerous tv series, and made her film debut with Disney’s Napoleon and Samantha (1972).
Her breakthrough came with Scorsese’s psychological thriller Taxi Driver (1976).
Understandably, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role.
And her fame carried on growing.
One of her best performances is arguably in the psychological horror The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which she won an academy award.
1993: Cindy Crawford…
She was 27.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Crawford was one of the most popular supermodels.
She featured in a vast majority of magazine covers, appeared on runways, and in countless fashion adverts.
After making a name for herself in the fashion industry, she branched out into acting.
She appeared in multiple Pepsi commercials but got her first acting role as the female lead in the movie Fair Game.
Although it wasn’t exactly a success.
In 2000 Crawford quit modeling full-time, and only appears in high fashion magazines every now and then.
She also has a range of business ventures, from cosmetics to her own furniture line.
She made her acting debut in 1981, with the drama Rich and Famous.
It was a hit, and a year later she joined the soap opera As the World Turns.
She went on to appear in several supporting roles, such as in the hit movie Top Gun.
But she really made waves with her role as Sally in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.
She then received her first Golden Globe nomination in 1989, which gave her widespread fame.
Since then she has been labeled as one of the most successful actresses in the 1990s and early 2000s.
1995: Courteney Cox…
She was 31.
Cox is famously known for playing Monica Geller in the hit series Friends which aired from 1994 to 2004.
We instantly fell in love with her charming, and slightly OCD personality.
She was thrust into the spotlight thanks to the role and went on to appear in several series and movies over the years. One of her most acclaimed roles being reporter Gale Weathers in the slasher film Scream.
1996: Mel Gibson…
The first male actor to be thrown into the mix was Gibson, he was 40 at the time, and is best known for his action movies.
He got his big break playing the role of Max Rockatansky in the post-apocalyptic series Mad Max.
Not only is he a versatile actor, but in 1995 Gibson produced, directed, and starred in Braveheart, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Director.
1997: Tom Cruise
He was 35 at the time.
Cruise is one of the world’s highest-paid actors, and considering just how many Mission Impossible movies there are, it’s not surprising.
He started out his acting career in the early 1980s…
Featuring in the comedy Risky Business (1983) and the hit action movie Top Gun (1986), he later reprised his role for the latter.
Cruise made a name for himself as quite the lady’s man in the ’90s…
Especially after the success of his previous movies.
1998: Leonardo DiCaprio…
DiCaprio stole all our hearts in the late ’90s, he was 24 at the time.
He achieved international stardom with Baz Luhrmann’s romance movie Romeo + Juliet (1996)…
And let’s not forget Titanic (1997), which became the highest-grossing film at the time.
1999: Michelle Pfeiffer…
Once again, Pfeiffer won “most beautiful person” when she was 41.
2000: Julia Roberts…
Then again, history repeated itself, and we hailed the beautiful Roberts as the “most beautiful person” for the turn of the century, aged 33.
2001: Catherine Zeta-Jones…
She was 32.
Zeta-Jones began her acting career in Britain, taking on small roles before getting cast in the series The Darling Buds of May.
But she wanted to break out of being typecast into the ‘pretty girl’ roles she was given and later moved to LA.
In Hollywood, she sought out roles that showed a different side to her, such as in The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Entrapment (1999).
It’s no doubt that this shot her into the spotlight.
Everyone wanted to either be Zeta-Jones or be with her.
This is Zeta-Jones now…
We can’t wait for her upcoming role as Morticia Addams in the new Netflix series Wednesday.
She’s 52.
2002: Nicole Kidman…
She was 35.
The Australian actress began her career down under, but later went on to star in American movies.
She later achieved international success in 1990 with Days of Thunder.
This is where she hit it off with Tom Cruise.
She continued to wow audiences with her leading roles in Far and Away (1992), also with Cruise, and Eyes Wide Shut (1999), once again with Cruise.
It was her role as Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002) that won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
2003: Halle Berry…
She was 37.
Berry needs no introduction, she is and always has been one of the most stunning actors in Hollywood.
Understandably she began her career as a model.
In 1986 she came in sixth in the Miss World pageant… how she didn’t win, we don’t know.
She bagged her breakthrough role in the romantic comedy Boomerang
(1992), where she appeared alongside Eddie Murphy.
And later that same year played Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002).
The latter without a doubt being the reason for her “most beautiful person” recognition that year.
She was a bond girl after all.
Aniston rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on Friends (1994–2004).
She earned a Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award for her role.
Her biggest box office success before being crowned the “most beautiful person” is Bruce Almighty (2003).
And everyone fell in love with her all over again.
She has gone on to appear in a variety of movies in the years since…
Including The Break-Up (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Just Go with It (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), and We’re the Millers (2013), all of which were hits.
Jolie could quite easily be the most beautiful woman on earth, so it’s easy to see why she was picked.
She has won a whole host of awards over the years, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards,
For a number of years, she was the second half of the Hollywood power couple with Brad Pitt.
In addition to her film career, Jolie is known for her humanitarian efforts.
Barrymore has been a Hollywood star from a young age.
We can all remember her role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Her fame skyrocketed from then on out.
And she’s made a name for herself as an actress, producer, talk show host, and author over the years.
Never Been Kissed (1999) and Charlie’s Angels (2000) brought her away from the child actor trope.
And she went on to become incredibly successful, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
Hudson started out her career on screen in 1998, with the drama Desert Blue.
But it was her portrayal of Penny Lane in Almost Famous (2000) which saw her gain international prominence.
Despite starting out in the late ’90s, Hudson is without a doubt a 2000 star, featuring in some of our favorite romantic comedies…
Some of which include Alex & Emma, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), You, Me and Dupree (2006), Fool’s Gold, My Best Friend’s Girl (both 2008), and Bride Wars (2009).
But she has taken on other ventures over the years…
She became the co-founder of the fitness brand Fabletics, and has written 2 books, Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body, and Pretty Fun: Creating and Celebrating a Lifetime of Tradition.
Now, we might know her best for the dark Netflix series Dead to Me…
But Applegate started out her career as a child actress…
She then went on to star as Jesse in the sitcom with the same name (1998–2000).
For this, she earned a Golden Globe Award nomination.
She later went on to receive a number of awards for her film and TV roles…
She won a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as 7 nominations, and has been nominated for 4 Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.
2010: Julia Roberts…
Julia Roberts just keeps stealing the show.
She was 43 at the time.
Now, J-Lo has been in the news a lot recently because of her recent union with Ben Affleck.
At the time she was branded “the most beautiful person,” Lopez had split from her ex Anthony and started dating Casper Smart.
J-Lo is one of the most successful female artists out there.
But she’s not just a singer.
J-Lo actually began her acting career first in 1993, later getting the main role in the hit film Selena (1997).
Lopez then ventured into the music industry with her debut album On the 6 (1999), which propelled her into the music scene.
Her music has inspired a whole generation of people.
And continues to wow us all with each album she releases.
She rose to fame in the late ’90s as the lead singer of Destiny’s Child.
But later branched out and successfully made a name for herself as one of the world’s best-selling record artists.
The Goop owner has made a name for herself as a holistic lifestyle guru…
But she started out as an actress.
Featuring in films such as Seven (1995), Emma (1996), and Sliding Doors (1998)…
She really managed to show her talent early on.
She went on to win of various accolades for her performances, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
But lately, she has been focusing on her business ventures and has even brought out a few cook books.
Lupita began her career in Hollywood as a production assistant but quickly turned her hand to acting.
Landing a role in the short film East River.
She took some time away from acting to get her master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama.
After which she landed the role of Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013).
Understandably, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
becoming the first Afro-Latina to receive such critical acclaim.
Bullock is probably best known for her comedies, but that’s not how she started out.
As her breakthrough role came in the action thriller Speed (1994).
After this, she went on to establish herself in the late 90s with leading roles in romantic comedies.
In 2000, she starred in her first comedy Miss Congeniality, which began her decades-long career in the genre.
One of her most well-known roles is her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side (2009), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Due to her immense talent on screen, she was the world’s highest-paid actress in both 2010 and 2014.
Pink started out as a member of the girl group Choice…
However a little while later, in 1995, LaFace Records felt she would do much better on her own, and offered her a solo recording contract.
Amazingly, her debut studio album Can’t Take Me Home (2000) featured 2 two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs: There You Go and Most Girls.
And the rest is history.
She quickly shot to the top and began steering away from her R&B influence, instead opting to focus on her pop-rock sound.
This was a big move for the star and has led to her becoming one of the best-selling female artists.
Now, Garner has been making headlines recently, after the recent Bennifer marriage.
She famously married Ben Affleck in 2005, but the pair had a rocky time towards the end.
She made her TV debut in the romance adaptation of Zoya in 1995.
This gave her the exposure she needed to go on to bigger ventures, later landing the role of CIA officer Sydney Bristow in the series Alias, which earned her recognition.
She branched out into romantic comedy, and appeared in the hit movie 13 Going on 30 (2004)…
I’m pretty sure this was all our favorite movie at some point.
Goldie has achieved great success as an actress and rose to fame on the comedy sketch show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968–1970).
After which she went on to appear in the comedy Cactus Flower (1969), where she received the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She has upheld her bankable star ranking for over 30 years, appearing in a variety of genres over the years.
More recently she starred alongside Amy Schumer in the comedy Snatched (2017).
For those of you who might not know, Goldie is the mother of Kate Hudson…
Who also won the “most beautiful person” back in 2008.
Chrissy has been in the headlines for a whole host of things over the last few years, including the devastating loss of her baby boy last year.
The model and television personality made her debut in the modeling world in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2010.
From then on she began appearing on TV, first with the daytime talk show FABLife.
And then notably she co-hosted Lip Sync Battle.
She is very active on social media, sometimes to her own detriment, and often deals with a lot of abuse from trolls.
Despite this, Chrissy has gone on to achieve great success and has recently announced she’s expecting her third baby with husband John Legend.
She is the only actor to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, an Academy Award, Emmy Award, and a Tony Award in the U.S. and the UK.
What a star!
And finally we have Gwen Stefani…
As well as being in the band No Doubt, Stefani wrote countless hit songs, including ‘Rich Girl’, ‘Don’t Speak’, ‘Luxurious’, just to name a few.
Stefani went on to win many awards…
One of which was a Grammy that was awarded to her in 2002 for the Best Melodic Rap Performance.
However, in her most recent interview, fans didn’t recognize the singer…
And took more time commenting on her appearance than the actual interview itself.
The star wore a black, fringed, cut-out pantsuit and teamed it with a cobalt blue fishnet bolero which led one user to write: “Unrecognizable.”
A second added: “I am so sorry to say this, but I did not recognize her. Please Gwen, STOP!”
Criticism of her appearance provoked wider debate about the media’s obsession with female celebrities’ looks as they age, which is something that Stefani is no stranger to.
And this wasn’t the first time the fifty-two-year-old singer faced criticism…
She felt victimized by this ageism in the past, receiving a lot of hate from people who said she was “too old” for certain performances.
What do you think?