Helen Mirren will get ‘absolutely insulted, really cross’ if you offer her your seat
Of all of the September issues, I think this one might be my favorite. It’s not that Allure’s September cover with Helen Mirren is all that striking – I don’t care for the disembodied tattooed arm draped around her – but it’s the fact that a major magazine put a 72-year-old woman on their September cover and they didn’t treat it like it’s some huge deal. Like, Allure doesn’t want a cookie for this. They put Mirren on the cover because she’s awesome. You can read Allure’s profile of Mirren here, and here are some highlights:
She dislikes Trump: “[Trump] just said and did whatever it took to get what he desired. That is quite terrifying, because it means there’s a lack of morality there and a lack of conscientiousness.”
On Melania Trump: “You look at old Mel there, and she is one of the most powerful women in the world because she could take him down. She almost did that with the hand. [She puts on a Disney Evil Stepmother voice and mimics the hand brush-off seen round the world.] ‘Don’t touch me.’ I’m Eastern European, you know; [we’ve] got these dark souls. That dark Slovenian soul is about to come out. She’s only got to do a nice interview with Allure.”
On Ivanka Trump: “[Ivanka] talks a good game, but there’s no substance. Her book is so ignorant about how the majority of women live, talking about ‘Make time for yourself to have a massage.’ Puh-lease.”
On Margaret Thatcher: “Although I completely disagreed with her politics, Mrs. Thatcher was a great role model for women…a little four-year-old watching TV says, ‘Who’s this, Mommy or Daddy?’ ‘That’s the prime minister.’ Immediately, the girl thinks, Oh, I see; that’s possible.”
On Republicans in general: “The idiocy of the Republican Party to have a room full of 25 old white men making decisions about the health of this country that is 50.8 percent women and 37 percent other races — I looked this up! If you go to a place where women are given advantages, life gets better, especially for children.”
Feminism in the 21st century: “I wasn’t into the very didactic feminism of the ’60s and ’70s because I liked wearing makeup and high heels. That was a no-no. It was sort of ‘That’s playing to the patriarchy.’ I was thinking, Well, I just really like it. Then as feminism developed, they realized you can like nice dresses, high-heeled shoes, and makeup. That’s not stopping you from being feminist.”
What she thinks of being called beautiful: “Maybe we’re attractive, interesting, or mesmerizing, but 90 percent of women are not what you’d call beautiful. Of course, beauty is inside, but still it’s a word. When it’s tied to pictures of people and amazing outfits on girls who can wear that stuff, it’s intimidating for the rest of us.”
The word “anti-aging”: “I said [to L’Oreal], ‘This word “anti-aging” — we know we’re getting older. You just want to look and feel as great as you can on a daily basis.’ ”
She hates when people treat her like an old lady: “If people treat me like the age I am, I get absolutely insulted, really cross. I hate when people give up their seat for me. No, no, no. I don’t want your seat.”
The parts she’s offered: “I’m so tired of movies about Alzheimer’s and cancer. And actually… I’ve just done a movie where I have cancer and he has Alzheimer’s. But that’s it — done and dusted.”
She’s fine if people want some Botox: “Anyone should be able to do what they want. If they look in the mirror and go, ‘I look good’ and go out in a positive way — I don’t want anyone to feel miserable.”
Advice for her younger self: It would be to say “F–k off” more and stop being so “bloody polite.”
[From Allure]
At the start of the interview, she’s unloading on Trump but she offers this too, that she thinks Trump is not as extremist as he lets on: “That was the horror of the Republicans: They thought that he was actually a bit of a secret New York-y-type liberal who was quite cool with gays getting married, wasn’t he?” Yeah, but… he’s not that guy anymore, let’s be honest. He’s the guy who said all of that sh-t to be cool in New York, and now he says totally different sh-t to be cool with his white supremacist buddies. Don’t hang your hat on the idea that Trump is still some closeted liberal. He is not.
As for the rest of it… I would totally give up my seat for Helen Mirren. Not because of her age, but because she’s Helen Mirren, an international treasure.
Photos courtesy of Allure.
Source: Helen Mirren will get ‘absolutely insulted, really cross’ if you offer her your seat
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