“It’s much better to age disgracefully!” Helen Mirren replied cheekily when Vogue asked her thoughts on the notion of “aging gracefully” in Hollywood, “Take it on the chin, and roll with it. You die young, or you get older. There is nothing in between! You may as well enjoy it.” And let it be known: Living life large, no matter your age, is a notion long dear to Mirren’s heart. “My mother once said, ‘Never worry about getting older,’“ she recalled. “‘I know the thought of you being 45 when you’re 25 is, Oh, my god! Who wants to be 45? But it’s amazing because when you get to be 45, you’ll realize it’s actually very cool and you don’t want to be 25 again.’ And I have to say, she was absolutely right. With every age comes advantages and disadvantages. And you tend to find that you don’t want to go back. You want to be exactly where you are with everything you’ve experienced.”
Halle Berry
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“We’re all going to get older. Our skin is going to shrivel up and we’re going to look different. I see things changing with my face and body, but I’ve never put all my eggs in that basket. I’ve always known that beauty is deeper than the physical body you’re walking around in,” Berry told AARP. “I refuse to become someone who just tries to hold onto a youthful face and not embrace what’s most important about being beautiful—how you live your life, how you give back to others, how you connect to people, how you strengthen your mind, body, and soul and nourish yourself, how you give in a meaningful way of yourself. The most beautiful people have something radiating inside. Women are told that when we reach a certain number, we’re no longer valuable. I believe the opposite. Society should look at us as jewels as we get older. Because the older women get, the more formidable we are.”
Brooke Shields
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