'I'm in a different body, but I'm still beautiful' - we are trying Andie MacDowell's 'romanticising' ageing technique

The actress also reveals the one word she refuses to use when she talks about getting older.

Andie MacDowell
(Image credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Alamy)

We adore how Andie MacDowell has chosen to 'romanticise' ageing and it's something we want to try doing ourselves - the actress also reveals the one word she refuses to use when talking about getting older.

Andie MacDowell has shown where she stands when it comes to ageing by ditching the dye and taking on the growing hair trend to showcase her natural grey colour.

The actress carries off this stunning look effortlessly, and is equally happy to talk about positive ageing just as eloquently as she is to demonstrates her stance on it with her appearance.

It hasn't always been plain sailing for the star to find her positive mindset when it comes to her advancing years, and she's had to find plenty of inner strength to get there. "It’s something that I have to remind myself of every day, to love myself," she said in conversation with Today.

Andie adds, "It's so important that we recognize our own value and worth, and that we watch what we tell ourselves because our mind can play big tricks on us."

The actress stresses the importance of language when it comes to finding inner tranquillity with the ageing process, and there's one word she doesn't like to use when talking about it - "embrace".

Instead, Andie prefers to use the words "romanticise" or "glorify" when she acknowledges bodily changes, and that's something we can really get on board with.

"Find a way to see the beauty of it," she explains, adding, "The beauty of your belly, the beauty of your shape as it changes, the beauty of your neck. I think you have to look for ways to glorify how you transform as you age because it is part of the process."

Poignantly, she suggests, "We can glorify where we are and this is also beautiful. It’s a different time, and I’m in a different body, in a different state, but I’m still beautiful."

Andie MacDowell wears a gold glittered gown with silver eyeshadow and a pink lipstick

(Image credit: Getty Images/ Mondadori Portfolio / Contributor)

Another phrase the star used while chatting about getting older has stayed with us. Andie says, "‘Aging is OK, and of course! It has to be OK because it’s something that’s happening to us."

She's absolutely right - different things and processes are happening to us all the time, but ageing has been picked out as something essentially "unacceptable," and society asks us to try and do everything we can to prevent something simply unpreventable.

Andie is absolutely correct - advancing in years has to be OK doesn't it, because expecting it to be anything else is not possible.

The star has also been keen to instil body and appearance acceptance in her daughters, Margaret Qualley, 30, and Rainey Qualley, 35.

However, she candidly reveals how her own acceptance journey occasionally falters, but when this happens she looks to what she believes her daughters would say if they knew she was thinking negatively about herself.

Ahead of an event she was due to attend, the actress felt a little low when potential outfits she tried on were too tight. “I was really down on myself, and I recognised that," she explains.

Thinking of Rainey's reaction to her thoughts, she states her daughter "would have been mortified" that she was thinking that way about her body. The down-to-earth way Andie recognises which parts of ageing she struggles with is truly inspirational.

"I’m a work in process," she concludes. "I’ll probably be trying to love myself and accept myself as I age. Forever, I will be doing that, but at least I’ll be eating good food and working out."

Lucy Wigley
Entertainment Writer

Lucy is a multi-award nominated writer and blogger with seven years’ experience writing about entertainment, parenting and family life. Lucy worked as a freelance writer and journalist at the likes of PS and moms.com, before joining GoodtoKnow as an entertainment writer, and then as news editor. The pull to return to the world of television was strong, and she was delighted to take a position at woman&home to once again watch the best shows out there, and tell you why you should watch them too.