…to the extent that if they were a friend of yours when they were younger, you probably wouldn’t be able to recognize them.
Not necessarily those who haven’t aged well, and certainly not due to plastic surgery or botox (we’ve had other threads on that topic).
Example: Steve Earle
1975
Today
*Posthumous pictures unnecessary/overkill
I’d say Marlon Brando, but it really was just aging, not caring, and weight gain. I mean, compared to Paul Newman or Robert Redford, Brando looked a lot different.
Michael Jackson?
Plastic surgery…
Peter Frampton
And boxing
Tom Cruise, admittedly because he got his teeth fixed.
Michael Jackson too.
Okay, I know it’s been thirty years since he was on Miami Vice. But here’s a comparable picture of Don Johnson, who is also 68.
I challenge anyone to top this.
Wow, if you’d have shown me that picture and asked me to guess who he was, I wouldn’t have the faintest clue.
He was on TV a few years ago (IIRC, PBS) and I had no idea who that skinny 60-ish guy with the white crew cut and wire-framed glasses was until he started singing.
How about David Letterman and Michael Stipe, who currently look far more similar than most people could ever imagine? I think it’s the beards. 
The parts between beard and hat are very clearly the same guy. If they look significantly different to you, it’s just the facial-hair version of the Clark Kent effect.
Original Iron Maiden lead singer Paul Di’Anno.
Melissa McCarthy’s weight loss has had a significant effect on her appearance. Watching the first season of Mike & Molly, I wouldn’t have recognized her based on seeing her in the later seasons, or Ghostbusters.
Abour Michael Jackson:
Caitlyn/Bruce Jenner.
