The British actress has bucked the trend to become a leading lady of Hollywood in her 70’s and her popularity is at an all-time high. She is my hero!
Outspoken, articulate and not afraid to use her roar, here are 10 Helen Mirren quotes to remind you to grow wilder…
1. At 70 years old, if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to use the words “fuck off” much more frequently.
2. I still have a Gypsy sense of adventure. I don’t think I have slept in the same bed for more than three or four months my whole life. I am always planting vegetables that I never get to eat and flowers that I never see flower. I have always moved around the world.
3. The whole thing of clothes is insane. You can spend a dollar on a jacket in a thrift store. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a jacket in a shop. And if you saw those two jackets walking down the street, you probably wouldn’t know which was which.
4. Women have got to stop being polite. If I ever had children, which I don’t, the first thing I’d teach a girl of mine is the words “fuck off”.
5. The hardest period in life is one’s twenties. It’s a shame because you’re your most gorgeous, and you’re physically in peak condition. But it’s actually when you’re most insecure and full of self-doubt. When you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s frightening.
6. I’m a get-a-dress-at-the-thrift-shop-but-open-a-bottle-of-champagne kind of person.”
7. I think every woman in our culture is a feminist. They may refuse to articulate it, but if you were to take any woman back 40 years and say, ‘Is this a world you want to live in?’ They would say, ‘No.’”
8. The weird thing is, you get more comfortable in yourself, even as time is giving you less reason for it. When you’re young and beautiful, you’re paranoid and miserable. I think one of the great advantages of getting older is that you let go of certain things.
9. Your 40s are good. Your 50s are great. Your 60s are fab. And 70 is fucking awesome.
10. All my life I’ve been looking at 16-year-old girls selling beauty, so I think it’s fabulous that they’re using a 70-year-old woman to sell products to other 60 to 80-year-old women.
(c) Samantha Wilson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
