Alyssa Farah Griffin Says Criticism of Madonna and Jasmine Guy Shows Women Can’t Win as They Age
by Sari Moon · Thought CatalogBy Sari Moon
Updated 4 minutes ago, October 2, 2026
Madonna, 68, faced criticism for looking too young and being overtly sexual, while Jasmine Guy, 64, was criticized for aging naturally. On The View’s Sept. 28 episode, Alyssa Farah Griffin put those 2 complaints together to show the competing expectations women face as they get older.
“So Madonna’s being criticized for being too overtly sexual and trying to look too young,” Griffin said. “And then Jasmine’s being criticized for trying to age gracefully. It’s like, you can’t win no matter what direction you take it.”
The discussion followed Madonna’s Sept. 27 performance at the 2026 MTV VMAs, her first at the ceremony in 23 years. She performed “Bring Your Love” with Sabrina Carpenter and “Danceteria Afterhours” with Charli xcx, then finished the night with 7 awards, her highest total at a single VMAs ceremony. Criticism focused on her appearance, age and attempts to revisit her earlier image and choreography.
Guy had also faced comments about her appearance as she returned to the sitcom world of A Different World. Whoopi Goldberg read from Guy’s Instagram post: “The Internet can be brutal to women as we grow older.” Guy continued, “It asks us to celebrate life while criticizing every sign that we have lived in.”
Sunny Hostin pointed to the stakes of getting older, saying she’d turn 58 this year and receives emails almost every month about people in her age group being widowed or having strokes or heart attacks.
“How dare you shame someone for trying to age well and just live?” Hostin said.
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