It isn't all it seems at seventeen...

I'm not about to try to explain this.  Someone else can, and I'm sure they will.  That's the only thing I am sure about, here.

I have gone to bat many a time for Lindsay Lohan, because I thought she was a very good actress, and cute as a bug in her day, which, sad to say, has passed.  She was in Mr Keillor's movie "A Prairie Home Companion" and anyone good enough to work with Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and the estimable Garrison Keillor is good enough to be in any movie, as far as I know.

Lindsay's recent problems with substance abuse, criminal charges, a shredded career and so forth are well documented.  I wish her well and hope she gets it back together.

I was only vaguely aware that Lindsay had a younger sister; her name is Ali and she has been trying to make it as a model-actress-singer.  I guess, seeing how well things have worked out for Lindsay, she thought she'd try the family business.

Anyhow.  Here is how Ali looked until recently:

 Cute, pretty, attractive, right?  So now, here she is <<, as currently refigured.  And here is the word from People magazine:   

After a new photo of Ali Lohan set off an Internet storm about her dramatic look, her rep says Lindsay Lohan's younger sister, who was recently signed to a modeling agency, did not go under the knife.

"Aliana has never had any type of plastic surgery in her life, nor has she ever considered it," her rep Steve Honig tells PEOPLE, insisting that the perceived changes in Lohan's face are purely natural.

"Her success as a model lies with her natural looks and she has no interest in changing that," the statement continues. "During the past two years, she has gone through a normal teenage growth spurt that has made her taller and slimmer."

The younger Lohan, 17, has been the subject of chatter after stepping out with a noticeably thinner frame and a more drawn appearance.

Lohan's growth "has also slightly changed the composure of her face, all of which is typical of what happens to kids in their mid to late teens," explains Honig. "It's what most people refer to as the awkward stage. Ali is growing up; that's all." 

Now, we have all been 17, especially those of us born before September 12, 1994, and we know what happens at 17.  You get a zit now and then, your body is growing, you get growing pains, your metabolism is racing like Rick Perry's thoughts at an execution.  But this gaunt stranger in the bottom photo shows no resemblance to the cute kid above.  If this is someone's idea of career advice, please, Ali, go talk to someone else. 

Why do people take something sweet and pure and foul it all up?