Diane Keaton appears in People’s 2017 World’s Most Beautiful issue. Diane is a nice looking lady. She always had a well-scrubbed if not quirky appearance and her trademark look has served her well throughout the years. Since Diane appears in this particular issue, she was asked numerous beauty questions. As she is 71, many of those questions were about beauty and aging. Whereas some of the questions and answers are insightful about beauty tips for those over the age of 30, the interviewer injects too much of a “geez, sucks to not look hot and 20 anymore, doesn’t it?” tone to it.

Diane’s later-in-life rules: Stay vigilant about lighting. “It’s important when you’re making up. The dimmer is your friend.” The effect may not translate once you step outside, she concedes, “Of course it’s going to look worse, I don’t have to look!”

No plastic surgery? No. My feeling is that everybody has their hands and their hands are always at the face, so if the hands don’t match the face it’s a little weird. My hands are the hands of the age I am. They’ve been through a lot and they look like it!

Teeth whitening? Okay, here’s my feeling about teeth whiteners. Personally, I would really like to have much whiter teeth than I have. But my teeth are so bad because you know when I was younger, I went through a period of bulimia. That ruins your teeth. I’ve had so much work just to keep mine! Don’t ever go there. So, I think if I were to have whiter teeth, I’d have to get rid of my teeth.

Do you feel men still look at you appreciatively on the street? No men have any interest in me in that way. But do I have interest in them? I think I have more interest in just companions, family, old friends. 

Do you remember suddenly noticing that men weren’t looking at you in that way? I think it’s kind of happened incrementally. I mean, I don’t like to be looked past. It’s not fun. But you’re fortunate in some regards if you’re famous because you get fake interest. People pay attention to you because they have to. I do notice that if I’m, say, driving to Arizona and I don’t have my hat on, which seems to identify me, people treat me like a regular person.

As such a recognizable star, do you feel you need to look good every time you leave the house? Yeah, you have to comb your hair and you have to wear something you think looks good, but I like that. That’s fun. 

Everyone has little paths or little hints about what will make them feel good. Do whatever you want — to heck with it! But that’s the other point: Don’t take too much time on yourself. Keep looking outward — that’s where the amazing part of life is.

[From People]

See what I mean? All the questions are framed around wistfulness, especially as it pertains to men. Diane is game to answer them so I’ll let it go but I really wish we could stop implying that beauty later in life is all smoke and mirrors. I dislike praising looks with the caveat “for her age” or saying someone has “aged well” or “aged poorly.” People age, so does one’s appearance. Let’s leave the later-in-life “well” or “poorly” descriptors for attitude.

As for Diane’s answers, I don’t know about the dimmer comment, at least not when doing your make-up. If I don’t have full light when blending, I end up looking like a Warhol silkscreen. She also mentioned she doesn’t dye her hair because her gray looks better against older skin. Three of my friends stopped dyeing their hair in the last year and are now full gray. They look amazing. One got a really short cut and spikes it on top – it’s boss. I don’t have any problem with plastic surgery, to each their own. But what Diane says is true, your hands will always give you away. If you get a facelift to pretend you’re a decade younger, sit on your hands or wear gloves *coughMadonnacough*. Unfortunately, I can +1 her comments on bulimia and teeth, it ravages them.

My favorite is her last answer. The first line is directed at my children who apparently forget we own hairbrushes half the time. But I agree with wearing what makes you feel good whether that means yoga pants, fedoras or wrap dresses. The minute you look at an article of clothing and think about how it makes you feel rather than how someone else reacts to it, life becomes a lot more fun.

Photo credit: Getty Images and WENN and Fame/Flynet photos