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Ashley Judd has hit out at the media after photos taken in March showing the actress with a noticeably puffy face morphed into a viral news story.

In a week-long media blitz Judd, 43, has refuted claims made by media outlets that she has had plastic surgery.

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The star of television series ‘Missing’ called the coverage her puffy face received mean-spirited and sexist, claiming in a reply published at the Daily Beast last week that the ‘conversation’ about her puffy face was part of a wider attack on women.

“I choose to address it because the conversation was pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic and embodies what all girls and women in our culture, to a greater or lesser degree, endure every day,” she wrote.

As well as the ‘puffy face’ news stories, Judd also copped abuse on Twitter, with tweeters calling her a ‘pig’ and a ‘cow’ as well as other less savoury insults.

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Judd attributed her appearance in March to the effect of steroids she’d been prescribed for a month-long illness, as well as gaining a little weight over winter.

She followed up her Daily Beast reply with a series of television interviews in the US discussing what it was like to be the focus of such harsh criticism based on her appearance, and what her experience means for women and girls everywhere.

Judd’s husband, IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, told reporters over the weekend that he was proud of his wife for speaking out.

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