Daisy Phillipson
An expert has used science to make the suggestion that Amber Heard has the 'most beautiful face in the world' - a hypothesis that is controversial in more ways than one.
The 36-year-old actor has more or less disappeared from the spotlight ever since losing the highly publicised defamation lawsuit against her last summer.
As well as the jury siding with her ex-husband Johnny Depp, a majority of the public turned against her too, with a petition to have her removed from the upcoming Aquaman sequel reaching more than 4.6 million signatures.
Legal battle aside, Dr Julian De Silva from the Centre for Advanced Facial Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery in London has deduced that Heard technically has the most beautiful face in the world - according to science.
Silva utilised a face-mapping technique that refers to the Greek Golden Ratio of Beauty, which is 1.618.
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This ratio, also known as 'Phi', outlines the perfect proportion of facial features, including the eyes, nose, lips, chin, and overall face shape, to determine who the most 'scientifically beautiful' people are.
Back in 2016, De Silva analysed 12 key points of the face, including those listed above, and found that Heard subscribed to this theory with 91.85 percent accuracy.
He told Us Weekly at the time: "The Greeks discovered that the ratio occurs everywhere in nature and for thousands of years it has been thought to hold the secret formula of the world’s most beautiful faces."
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Now, as you can tell, there are quite a few issues with this hypothesis, and many people have accused the concept of being a way to position whiteness as the beauty standard.
Dr Furaha Asani, a researcher and biochemist with a PhD in Infection and Immunity, took to Medium to point out similar stories that have come out in recent years, with Silva's predictions previously arguing that Robert Pattinson is the male equivalent of Heard.
"Dr De Silva’s calculations have led to various white people being given the title of 'most beautiful' on more than one occasion," wrote Dr Asani.
The science expert went on to highlight the potential flaws and the vague nature of Silva's claims.
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"While the Dr has an impressive list of peer-reviewed publications and a solid media presence, there doesn’t appear to be any peer-reviewed article describing the mapping algorithm."
Then there are factors such as 'robustness of the technique, critique/limitations of the facial mapping framework and defined inclusion/exclusion criteria for the sample population'.
And let's not forget it's unclear which celebrities had their faces analysed.
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"This makes it hard for replication by any other researcher," added Dr Asani.
"What is clear however is that the list(s) comprises mostly white people/people with Eurocentric facial features."
So while there's no denying Heard technically has a nice face, it's a huge stretch to say it's the most beautiful in the world.