Why Helen Mirren is still sexy in her sixties and a role model for growing old gracefully

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Newspapers had a field day yesterday running a photograph of Dame Helen Mirren in a bikini posing with her husband on the rocks near her holiday home in Italy.


Everyone seemed rather amazed that she was looking so good just days short of her 63rd birthday - yet there are flocks of women in their 50s, 60s and 70s who still look sexy and absolutely wonderful whether in or out of a swimsuit.

I certainly applaud Dame Helen for wearing a bikini on which she obviously thought was an extremely secluded stretch of beach.

Role model: Pictured on holiday this week, Dame Helen Mirren, 62, is an idol for the ageing generation

Role model: Pictured on holiday this week, Dame Helen Mirren, 62, is an idol for the ageing generation

At the age of 75, I almost always wear a bikini by my own pool with just family and friends in the vicinity, but I, too, was recently caught by a photographer while lounging on a yacht in one.

Unfortunately today, with the excessive emphasis that is placed by society on youth, youth, youth, many women over 40 are beginning to feel unsexy - and with that often comes a tremendous feeling of insecurity.

But the truth is there are plenty of role models for them to aspire to: women like Dame Helen are by no means in the minority for looking sexy and stunning.

Look at Sophia Loren, Susan Sarandon, Ursula Andress, Stephanie Powers, Raquel Welch, Barbara Eden, Joanna Lumley, Linda Grey. The list is endless - and those are just the actresses.

I have many friends in their 60s, 70s and 80s who do not live in the limelight but who all look absolutely stunning.

They all have one thing in common, however: they have taken care of themselves all their lives - and by this I mean eating a reasonably healthy diet, exercising moderately, and not allowing themselves to become overweight. 

Weight on a person is one of the most ageing and unhealthy things that can happen.

For women in the UK, the current life expectancy of 85 can actually be translated into a much longer life than that if she continues her simple basic maintenance - and, of course, doesn't get ill.

Sadly, many of today's illnesses stem from being overweight. 

Sultry: Helen Mirren poses for a sexy look in 1974, aged 29, (left) and still looks just as good aged 41 in 1986 (right)

Diabetes, kidney and liver problems, cancer, heart disease, emphysema and osteoporosis are often caused by the body having to lug around too much extra avoirdupois.

Getting older should be just that: getting older,but not becoming old, and therefore not losing one's sex appeal.

I believe that one is as young as one looks. When an old codger leers 'I feel 21', I have to stop myself from saying: 'Well, you don't look it, Grandpa!'

The truth is that women, on the whole, age better and look sexier than the opposite sex - and men often find this hard to accept. I'm sure that the gals from Sex And The City will still look sexy at 60 and over.

This idea that women of a certain age should not, or can not, be sexy is quite ridiculous.

It's also a very British state of mind. In France, they revere and respect older women; as they do in most Latin countries, where they consider older women to be delightful and with tons of sexual allure.

It might be a cliche, but today 60 really is the new 45. And 50 is more like 35.

Revealing: In 1970s basque and suspenders (left) and in a similar outfit for the 1989 film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (right)

Face it, you're only truly 'young' for less than one third of your life - which means that for most of your life you'll be classed with that horrid epithet 'older woman'.

It's a phrase loaded with a host of negative connotations, not least of which is an implication that your sex life is over - or, if it's not, that it should be.

Unfortunately, a lot of young people think that sex is the prerogative of the young.

Many are appalled by the idea of the over 40s, including their parents, being or looking sexy, or even, God forbid, having sex.

This is almost a throwback to days of puritanical religious intemperance, when sex was meant only for reproduction.

Calender Girl: From the 2003 film

Calender Girl: From the 2003 film

Raunchy: On stage in 1975

Raunchy: On stage in 1975

And yet it's a fact that many of the world's most famous women in history were sexually active well into middle age and beyond.

In her 60s, Catherine the Great was reputed to continue to take young lovers to bed - some 40 years her junior.

Mae West, who lived to 90, had a constant lover 45 years younger than her, and she coined the classic phrase 'It's not the men in my life, but the life in my men'.

Sarah Bernhardt, the great French actress, and the legendary Coco Chanel both had lovers well into their late lives.

Suggestive: A Seventies fashion shoot

Suggestive: A Seventies fashion shoot

Reaching 50: Helen's looking good in her fifties

Reaching 50: Helen's looking good in her fifties

Now that sex is used to sell everything from vacuum cleaners (painful but true) to plane tickets, it should be accepted that it's everyone's prerogative to enjoy it and have it, regardless of age.

It makes me happy when I read about a couple marrying in their 80s,

or rediscovering their lost love from 50 years ago.

Daring: Mirren in 1969, aged 24

Daring: Mirren in 1969, aged 24

Helen Mirren is just the tip of the sexual iceberg for the 'golden agers' or 'seniors' or whatever condescending epithet is bandied around to categorise older people.

Of course, at 40 or 50 you're not going to have the dewy, unlined skin of a teenager - but it's totally possible to keep looking as good as you can for as long as you live.

And if you look good to yourself, then others will find you sexy.

The late Queen Mother was a fabulous example of living life to the fullest extent until well over 100, and having plenty of admirers as a result. It's called 'use it or lose it': whether it's working your brain or your butt, you've gotta work at it.

The number of people now living over the age of 60 is closing in on the 1 billion mark and, by 2050, will be well over it.

On the subject of old age, I'm with that great American statesman and philanthropist Bernard Baruch when he said: 'Old age is always 15 years older than I am.' How true! Or Groucho Marx when he said: 'Growing old is something you do if you're lucky.'

It's admirable to have the attitude that the great director Billy Wilder had when someone asked him: 'Who the hell wants to be 95?' - 'Someone who's 94!' he quipped.

So do I have any secrets when it comes to holding back the years? Well, beauty products that claim to fight ageing fly off the shelves, and there are so many it's hard to choose from them all. But I swear by Cellex-C Ageless 15 - a skin rejuvenator - which really works.

From the look of her face and her body, Helen Mirren has taken jolly good care of herself and her diet, and it shows. So all hail Queen Helen. After all, there is nothing like a Dame.



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