"I’m going to be more powerful if I embrace where I am right now. "
Why Andie MacDowell Decided to Go Gray Even Though Her Managers Said It ‘Wasn’t Time'
Andie MacDowell has always made a statement with her hair. For most of her career, her curly hair stuck out on red carpets amidst a sea of sleek blow-outs; now, she's showing Hollywood how to go gray in style. After hitting the Cannes premiere of Annette sporting a silver look, the 63-year-old actor is opening up about what this particular look means for her—and why it was one of the best beauty decisions of her life.
“At the very beginning of quarantine, my hair started growing and every time my kids would see me, they kept telling me I looked badass with my gray hair. When I pulled it up in a bun, all you could see was the salt and pepper, which is what I am, you know, dark and silver. I like to compare myself to George Clooney because why not?” she told Vogue in a recent interview. “I’ve been saying for a while now it was time for me, personally, to make that transition because I felt like it was appropriate for my personality and just who I am.”
But not everyone was on board with the new Andie. After she booked a new role, the star recalled, “My managers had actually said to me, ‘It’s not time [to go gray].’ And I said, ‘I think you’re wrong, and I’m going to be more powerful if I embrace where I am right now. It’s time because in two years I’m going to be 65. If I don’t do it now, I won’t have the chance to be salt and pepper.’” Even so, she felt pressure to cover up her naturally changing hair, explaining, “I was so cautious because I didn’t want anybody to be upset, and I was trying to figure out how I could wear wigs to please people. But then once I did it, it was just so clear to me that my instincts were right because I’ve never felt more powerful. I feel more honest. I feel like I’m not pretending. I feel like I’m embracing right where I am. I feel really comfortable. And in a lot of ways, I think it’s more striking on my face. I just feel like it suits me.”
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MacDowell found beauty inspo on Instagram. “You know how social media works…once you start looking at one thing, they pop up automatically," she said. "So all these people on Instagram that are going silver, I started looking at them. I was looking at real women out there who were transitioning to gray, as well as younger women in their 50s who were choosing to go natural. You could see the before and afters, and I like the afters.”
Andie MacDowell added in her interview, “I don’t want people to have the expectation that I need to look younger to have value or to be beautiful or desirable. We don’t do that to men! We love an older man. We love men as they age. I would love the same expectation for women, and we’re getting there...you know, baby steps."
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast
