Dame Helen: I hated my sexy image in the Sixties
sHE has established herself as one of the most timeless and confident beauties in Hollywood.
Yet Dame Helen Mirren suffered from terrible insecurities as a young woman breaking into the acting profession, she has revealed.
The 72-year-old actress reflected on her rise to fame in the 1960s and recounted disliking her curves because they didn’t match the tomboyish aesthetic of the decade.
she said: ‘It was the time of Twiggy, and I did not look like a twig. My cheeks were too fat, legs were too short, breasts too big.
‘I fell into the cliche of sexiness: Blonde hair, t**s, waist, which I hated at the time because it was not fashionable.
‘You had to be thin and have a cigarette and only wear black. and I just never fitted into that look.’
The star, who won the best actress oscar for her lead role in The Queen, said that if she could give her younger self some advice, she would tell her not to be so ‘bloody polite’ and say ‘**** off’ more often.
Dame Helen famously stood up to Michael Parkinson when, on his BBC chat show in 1975, he suggested that her figure might be getting in the way of her becoming a ‘serious’ actress.
Even though she held her own that day, she now wishes that she had been less concerned with politeness in general during her younger years.
‘In those days, you had to,’ she says in an interview with allure magazine. ‘It’s hard to explain how difficult it is to overcome the culture. You become a voice in the wilderness. no one wants to listen.’
now an outspoken advocate for gender equality, the actress reflected on her past struggle to call herself a feminist, and how she has embraced the label.
‘I wasn’t into the very didactic feminism of the 1960s and 1970s because I liked wearing make-up and high heels. That was a no-no. It was sort of “That’s playing to the patriar- chy”,’ she said. ‘I was thinking, “well, I just really like it”. Then as feminism developed, they realised you can like nice dresses, highheeled shoes, and make-up. That’s not stopping you from being feminist.’
In the interview the actress, who had a russian father and an English mother, also takes a swipe at Donald Trump’s election as us President. ‘[Trump] just said and did whatever it took to get what he desired,’ she said.
‘That is quite terrifying, because it means there’s a lack of morality there and a lack of conscientiousness.’