Viral Tweet About Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in ‘Father of the Bride’ Raises Questions About Aging: “This Was Supposed to Be What 45-Year-Olds Looked Like”

A tweet from a popular blogger has sparked a conversation about age in Hollywood, using the 1991’s Father of the Bride as an example.

As tabloids come under fire for their ceaseless commentary on women’s appearances and aging, Jessica Ellis’ tweet from December is livening up the conversation. Weeks after she shared a photo of Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in the popular ’90s comedy with the caption, “An unbelievable thing that has changed in 30 years is that in 1995, this was supposed to be what 45 year-olds looked like,” Twitter is still buzzing.

The tweet – which at the time of reporting, has 88K likes with over 5,000 retweets – is accompanied by a thread of adjoining messages from Ellis clarifying that she’s referencing the styling of Martin’s character, not his signature gray locks.

The image shows the two characters, who are parents to a 22-year-old, with Martin wearing a business suit and a beige attire, and Keaton’s Nina donning a string of pearls. Ellis also wrote, “This photograph also explains why Millennials live with a sneaking suspicion we have never gotten our shit together.”

Many have responded to the tweet in agreement. “Wow, this explains why we thought 45 was old as fuck and why we thought your life was over at 30,” wrote one.

Another chimed in with (my personal favorite), “Growing up in Korea, I assumed white people just show age harsher than everyone else. They always looked past middle age in movies.”

Others challenged her argument, stating that many people of that age do, in fact, look that way. “I hate to say it, but this is still what many white upper class parents of the bride look like,” wrote one Twitter user.

One insightful tweeter brought up the popular debate about the Grease movie, which infamously saw older actors portraying high schoolers. He shared a picture of the character and wrote, “If you think that’s crazy in 1978 this is what 18 year olds were supposed to look like.”

However, the general consensus seems to be that no 42-year-old woman would dress like that nowadays. A commentator told Ellis, “What if I told you our skinny jeans, Converse, and awesome t-shirt collections will be the new Old People wardrobe?” and she responded in agreement, “All the moms I know with teenage daughters share clothes.”

This notion is supported, somewhat, by the viral TikTok trend showing young women dressing their mother in their clothes with the caption “turning my mom into me.” But who knows, maybe we’ll see Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé and Sofia Vergara rocking the collared sweaters and pearls soon.