Helen Mirren is setting a new beauty standard.
The Oscar-winning actress, 79, attended the 2024 L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Honoree celebration on Nov. 21, in West Hollywood, Calif., to fête the next class of women who are championing various important causes and who personify the brand’s tagline, “Because You’re Worth It.”
While there, the L’Oréal Paris brand ambassador (who shone in an embellished lavender dress and a Jennifer Behr headband) opened up about her take on the word beauty and its place in society.
“I’ve always had this issue with the word beauty because it assumes that you’re looking to be beautiful in an exterior way,” she told PEOPLE exclusively.
“Of course, there are many, many different kinds of beauty in the world; it’s a very broad term. Being an ambassador for a beauty products company, I always wanted to say, ‘We’re not trying to be beautiful, we’re trying to be authentically and genuinely and happily and positively ourselves, whether that’s beautiful or not.’”
In the ten years since Mirren joined the brand, she says her perception hadn’t changed, but what has changed is how others view beauty.
“I think what’s happened is the world’s caught up with my attitude somewhat … luckily,” Mirren says.
Don’t get Mirren wrong: she has an appreciation for the power of makeup.
“I absolutely love the construction of character with makeup and wigs and costumes and the transformative process of being an actor. And maybe that’s also why I do actually love the world of makeup and of costume and of fashion, because it’s all transformative.
But if it comes down to when the star feels like her best self, “I think probably in a bath with a candle and a book,” she shares, adding, “Or having a cocktail with my husband in the evening, just one!”
“Those simple moments — being out on a beautiful hillside in Scotland or in Poland or wherever I am and at one with nature. I think it’s when you feel yourself at ease within the natural world and simply another part of the natural world. I think that’s when one feels the most authentic and at ease with yourself.”
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Mirren says it feels like just yesterday that she became a face of the brand. She’s been grateful for it every day.
“When [the opportunity] arrived on my doorstep, it was a great surprise because I was 70, actually. And that doesn’t often happen, but it was very much a mark of the change in attitudes, the change in time, the kinds of advances that women had made over the years. So I was surprised. I was very excited and honored and pleased as well.”
“It’s been a really wonderful 10 years, I have to say,” she continued. “It’s not my primary job. My primary job is acting and performing, but as an adjunct to that, it’s been a great, great experience.”
The experiences include the event, which the ambassadors always support.
“I think it’s wonderful that L’Oréal Paris does this every year. And they do an awful lot for women in general. Obviously, they’re a very big powerful company, but they do take their role very seriously and with great heart,” she says.
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Mirren is also ever-impressed with the “absolutely extraordinary women that come from all walks of life and every age” who are being honored.
“Often they’ve started their initiative when they were in school, 16 or 17 years old. And they’ve spotted where people are falling through a gap or there’s a particular issue that’s falling through a gap, and they step up and they try to fill it, and it’s always very, very moving and very exciting.”
Of course, she and the other ambassadors are all smiles on the red carpet, but it’s easy to get emotional during the celebration.
“I think what’s moving is the joy of it and the positivity of it, and the fact that there are people that work in anonymity, unless L’Oréal Paris comes along. Of course, they’re appreciated by their communities, by the people around and people who benefit from their work, but they’re not the headline in the New York Times. But L’Oréal comes along and makes them the headline, and I think that’s really, really valuable.”
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