Andie MacDowell appears to be on the same page as former Family Ties star Justine Bateman when it comes to aging.
In an interview with Katie Couric that was published earlier this week, the 64-year-old Sex, Lies, And Videotape star said she was enjoying embracing her age and letting her formerly dark curls assume their natural gray shade.
‘I want to be old. I’m tired of trying to be young. I don’t want to be young,’ she told Katie emphatically. ‘I’ve been young. And to be an older person trying to be young, what an effort. That’s a lot of effort.’
Bateman, 57, spoke earlier this week about embracing her natural face and avoiding fillers and cosmetic surgeries, even though it has led some people to associate her with having an ‘old’ face.
MacDowell recalled a time a woman had interviewed her and asked her how it felt to ‘get older and lose your beauty.’
All in on aging: Andie MacDowell, 57, told Katie Couric earlier this week that she loves her current salt-and-pepper hair and is enjoying embracing aging. ‘I want to be old,’ she said
Yikes: MacDowell, who dyed her hair to keep her classic brunette locks for years, recalled a time a woman had interviewed her and asked her how it felt to ‘get older and lose your beauty’; seen in 2019 in NYC
‘She actually said that,’ recalled the stunned actress, though she said she felt sorry for the interviewer because she apparently associated beauty only with youth.
But she has been loving letting her natural appearance come to the fore after giving up dying her hair at the start of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and letting her natural gray shine through.
‘It looks good on me,’ she gushed. ‘As it was growing out, my eyes popped. The color of them looked a little different. I liked the way my skin looked better. And there was a feeling. It empowered me more.’
By letting her true age shine through, MacDowell was also allowing others to see how good they could look outside of their 20s and 30s.
‘I do think there is the importance of seeing beauty at every age and it’s not limited to a certain age,’ she said.
Still, it was sometimes difficult to get others to admit that there is nothing wrong with aging.
‘Every once in a while, I’ll say to someone, “I’m old,” and they’ll say, “No, you’re not!”‘ she recalled.
‘Like it’s some horrible thing to say… And I’ll say to them, “But what if I say I’m young? Don’t have a problem with that, do you?”
Changes: She has been loving letting her natural appearance come to the fore after giving up dying her hair at the start of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and letting her natural gray shine through
‘It looks good on me,’ she gushed. ‘As it was growing out, my eyes popped. The color of them looked a little different. I liked the way my skin looked better. And there was a feeling. It empowered me more’; seen in October 2022
Nothing to be ashamed of: ‘Every once in a while, I’ll say to someone, “I’m old,” and they’ll say, “No, you’re not!”‘ she recalled. ‘Like it’s some horrible thing to say… And I’ll say to them, “But what if I say I’m young? Don’t have a problem with that, do you?”‘; seen in January in NYC
‘The truth of the matter is, I’m old and thats OK,’ she added. ‘That’s what I really want people to think about.’
She also urged women of her age to give up their fears about ‘shame.’
‘Why is there so much shame attached to getting older?’ she wondered aloud. ‘We’re towards the end. We have no time to waste feeling shame.’
Bateman spoke about ignoring Hollywood beauty standards and embracing her wrinkles in a new interview.
Bateman — who’s the sister of actor Jason Bateman — was a sitcom star in the 1980s on Family Ties, where she played Michael J. Fox’s older sister Mallory, and has been in the limelight since she was a teenager.
The actress told 60 Minutes Australia that she didn’t realize there was an obsession with her natural face until she Googled herself one day.
‘I googled my name Justine Bateman, and an autocomplete came up which said “looks old,” and I was like, “What!”‘
Later when asked whether it was possible for people to find aging ‘beautiful’, she responded with, ‘I just don’t give a s**t. I think I look rad, I think my face represents who I am. I like it.’
Ignoring beauty standards: Andie echoed Family Ties star Justine Bateman, 57, who spoke about ignoring Hollywood beauty standards and embracing her wrinkles in a new interview; (L) Pictured 2023, (R) Pictured in a still from Family Ties circa 1989
She stated that when looking at her own photos she ‘couldn’t see what those people were talking about.’
Speaking about women who use Botox and filler to prevent wrinkles, Justine said, ‘I feel sad for them. I feel sad that they’re not just enjoying life.’
‘I feel sad that they are distracted from the things they’re meant to do in life, with this consuming idea that they’ve got to fix their face before anything else can happen.’
Bateman then encouraged women to stop worrying about their aging so much.
‘Forget about your face! That is what I’m saying. Get rid of the fear that your face being wrinkled is going to ruin a bunch of opportunities for you.’
The writer and director went on to describe how it’s possible to get many procedures to make your face look younger, but that she enjoys looking her age.
She shared that she feels like her career is just beginning now that she’s gone from being an actress to a director, but that sometimes she looks in the mirror and wonders how she would look like with plastic surgery.
‘You can certainly look in the mirror and go “Oh, if I just had like a lower facelift I would get rid of this skin that catches the light, and then I could have that operation where you go into the eyelid, or you know take some of the skin out and this that’s hanging over now, over the eyelid, you can get that removed.”‘
‘Sure, you can do all of that, but even with that I would just… I feel like I would erase not only all my authority that I have now, but also I like feeling that I’m a different person now than I was when I was 20.’
‘I like looking in the mirror and seeing that evidence,’ she added.
Obsession: The actress told 60 Minutes Australia: ‘I googled my name Justine Bateman, and an autocomplete came up which said “looks old,” and I was like, “What!”‘
Not worried: When asked if it was possible for people to find aging ‘beautiful’, she responded with, ‘I just don’t give a s**t. ‘I think I look rad, I think my face represents who I am. I like it’
No fear: Bateman encouraged women to stop worrying about aging: ‘Forget about your face! Get rid of the fear that your face being wrinkled is going to ruin a bunch of opportunities for you’
Claim to fame: Bateman was a sitcom star on Family Ties, which aired on NBC from 1982 1989, and has been in the limelight since she was a teenager; Pictured in a 1982 promo shot
Big sister: She played Michael J. Fox’s older sister Mallory on the show; (L-R) Fox, Bateman, Michael Gross, Meredith Baxter Birney, and Tina Yothers pictured in a 1982 promo shot
Throwback! In real life,. Justine is the older sister of actor Jason Bateman, 54; The duo pictured at the 39th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20, 1987
Bateman also discussed the subject of aging in her new book, Face: One Square Foot of Skin.
The book is a collection of stories from 47 women she interviewed regarding their feelings about aging, and the pressure to remain looking young.
Aside from Family Ties, Bateman’s work also includes Satisfaction, Men Behaving Badly, Californication, The TV Set, and Desperate Housewives.
She has since pivoted into the role of a director. Her film directorial debut, Violet, starring Olivia Munn and Justin Theroux, premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.
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