The podcaster and former video model said “women cannot win for losing.”
ByJaelani Turner-Williams
October 1, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Melyssa Ford posted an Instagram video defending Jasmine Guy after commenters criticized the 64-year-old for her appearance.
- Ford demanded that the public “leave women alone and let us get older in peace.”
- Guy reprised her role as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne in the A Different World sequel, which is streaming on Netflix.
Melyssa Ford spoke out in defense of Jasmine Guy after the actress was ridiculed for her looks amid the release of Netflix’s A Different World.
In a video posted to her Instagram on Tuesday (Sept. 22), Ford called out “internet gangsters” for criticizing Guy, 64. “You internet gangsters get on my fucking nerves,” the Hot & Bothered host began, calling Guy “the latest woman to be picked apart for her age.”
“Women cannot win for losing,” Ford said. “If a woman gets work done, she lacks self-love, she’s insecure, she’s chasing youth. If she doesn’t, she’s letting herself go or she’s praised for being ‘brave’ for letting her face do what faces do. ‘Brave’ for aging.”
Ford called “aging naturally” a “privilege,” while the alternative is “death.” “If you wanna die and live a good-looking corpse, that’s on you. But most of us wanna live long, healthy, robust lives and that means getting older. No one calls a fucking man ‘brave’ for going gray.”
“Leave women alone and let us get older in peace,” Ford firmly concluded.
Earlier this week, Guy, who reprises her role as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne in the Different Worldrevival,posted an Instagram carousel of herself while calling out social media being “brutal” towards women as they age.
“It asks us to celebrate life while criticizing every sign that we’ve lived it,” she wrote. “Growing older brings change, and I won’t pretend every change is easy. But beauty, style, and joy don’t have an expiration date. Let’s spend less time judging ourselves and each other, and more time loving each other, making memories, and living the life we’re here to live ❤️”
