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.”
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.
First of all, Melania is not Eastern European.
I mean she is Helen Mirren, but she is 72. Here, if you don’t give up your seat to an older person/pregnant lady/someone with children the entire bus/tram/train will side eye you. The old lady will probably yell at you.
Yes she is. She’s Slovenian which is considered Eastern Europe.
The East Central Europe subregion consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia.
https://www.reference.com/geography/countries-make-up-eastern-europe-f220b8cc461d2e4d
Slovenia is Central Europe, not Eastern. Slovenians don’t consider themselves to be Eastern European.
@Maple Girl
I will acknowledge that they may considered themselves Central Europeans but Slovenia is also frequently cited as being a part of Eastern Europe.
Slovenia is eastern europe. Greetings from central europe!
….thank you…particularly as in some places its used as a perjorative…
@Maple Girl — thanks for that comment/correction. I visited a lot of the Mediterranean adjacent (mostly) Balkan countries this summer and they were described/defined as Eastern Europe. Interesting to learn the differentiation between Eastern Europe and East Central Europe. Always learning something new on CB!
Balkan countries are usually put into Southeastern Europe, Slovenia into Central Europe and then Croatia sometimes gets put into Central Europe, sometimes Southeastern Europe amd sometimes half Central half Mediterrannean. It’s complicated.
But here, Eastern Europe usually means countries like Russia, Ukraine or Belarus.
They get put under Eastern Europe because they used to be communist, rather than because of geography ( even though Yugoslavia was never in the Eastern Bloc).
Wow…is this the kind of thinking that makes people ignore that you are holding the door open for them? If so, this should be condemned.
I was called “Mam” in my late thirties, and I realized that the guy who said it was trying to be polite (although it made me feel old).
If you are offered a premium because someone is trying to be polite, you should either graciously decline or gratefully accept.
It seems that it is not only Americans and Australians that have no manners.
You can offer me your seat. You can help me with my bags when I am visibly struggling. You can hold a door for me instead of letting it shut in my face. I will appreciate it.
This woman is getting so up herself. I’m a couple of years younger than her but if somebody offers me their seat I accept gratefully and graciously. And I may be fatter and uglier, but I have a lot fewer wrinkles. 🙂
Give me Dame Judi any day!
She’s not saying NO ONE SHOULD EVER GIVE ELDERLY WOMEN THEIR SEAT. She’s merely talking about how she doesn’t like it when it happens to HER.
But she is saying g she gets cross when someone offers a seat. If she shows it then she is bad mannered and ungracious
She simply doesn’t like being viewed as helpless or infirm, that’s all. We equate age with infirmity/disability and though the rates do rise with age, it is not automatic for every single older person. She’s entitled to feeling cross inside; I’m sure she politely refuses on the outside. It’s like getting to that age when people call you “ma’am” instead of “miss.”
And a lot of boys/men have been taught it is best manners to offer their seat to a female of any age. I’m a girl power woman all the way and would only accept the gift of someone else’s seat if I was about to collapse into the aisle, but I think it is lovely when anyone makes a kind gesture toward any other person…of any gender or age.
I think she is being hyperbolic. Not literally cross but miffed to be seen as a person who is helpless.
I’ve noticed that a lot of elderly men get offended when I offer them my seat, or even hold a door open for them. As if it’s an affront to their masculinity or whatever.
Uhhh, when I give my seat to an elder, I do it because I was raised that way. Not because I think they are feeble. I wish more parents taught that, so sick of seeing teens sitting while elders and preggy folk stand and hold straps.
She had me until, “I hate when people give up their seat for me. No, no, no. I don’t want your seat.”
Some of us were raised right, Ma’am, and before any of you get your panties in a knot, I’ve been ma’amed since I was in my early 20s.
If you have a ring on your lock-down finger, are married, have children, and/or are in the military and are of a certain rank…you’re a ma’am.
It’s not condescending. It’s courteous and right and I offer my seat to any man or woman older than myself or whom appears to be tired or struggling in any way.
There and I’m happy to see others agree.
I’m not such a huge fan of Madam Mirren now.
The key words are tired or struggling – those indicators have nothing to do with age or gender. I have a hard time picturing Ms. Mirren appearing tired or frail as she goes about her day.
I have a hard time picturing her on mass transit!
Hah! I suppose I do too, although it would make my day if I saw her badass self on the cross-town bus on a random Tuesday.
Did you miss the “End of anti-aging, our call to the industry ” in big black letters? Of course they made a big thing about putting an older woman on the cover. And yes, she is fab.
Shes obnoxious.
Seriously, this woman has been sharing bizarre takes on things and shes turned me off a long time ago.
I’m a 32 year old woman that works/stands 11 hours a day in a pharmacy & uses public transportation to commute to work.
Hell yes I’ll take and thank you for your seat if you offer it to me!
I mean… I see deference as a sign of respect, not condescension.
I do love the tattooed arm draped around her. Little moments when men are utilized in an objective way make me smile. An inked young arm draped around her is kind of a tongue-in-cheek nod at this, no?
I’m 72, healthy as a horse, don’t need help in any way, but if someone offers me a seat I give them a big smile and a thank you. I also offer seats to men or women, younger or older than I am, and I hold doors open for men, women, or children, if I’m nearest to the door. It’s simple manners. I outgrew the being offended thing decades ago.
Her insistence that 90 percent of women are not beautiful always sounds a little annoying to me. I don’t know why. I don’t have a coherent argument for why it bothers me, but it does.
Yes, that statement bothered me too. It reads to me like she’s putting people into categories/boxes: beautiful and not-beautiful (and beautiful is better).
Being strong enough to stand while riding public transportation is a feat to be celebrated – at any age.
” I’m Eastern European, you know; [we’ve] got these dark souls. That dark Slovenian soul is about to come out.” Am I the only one who finds this particular statement from Helen troublesome? What is that supposed to mean? I mean, such a disgusting generalization of Slavic people.
She gets a bit of a pass because she’s of Slavic descent herself, but that is a strange statement.
You’re not the only one. That comment made me stop and wonder. I hope what she meant was that on the surface Slovenians are lovely, friendly and hospitable, and at the same time they are very hard working, tough, no-nonsense…who will not tolerate idiocy and hatred…they have, what we in the US call “grit” — resiliency, quiet but fierce determination and unwillingness to give up. Yes…that’s definitely what she was trying to say….right?
That’s funny because in the “Balkan” region Slovenians have the reputation for being very mellow. They’re the last nation I would describe with the words dark or grit.
Well, don’t you know that all eastern europeans are dark criminal souls? And all germans are nazis? And all americans are dumb as bread? 😀
I’m kinda sad most of these comments are negative- she’s just a cool-does-her-own-thing seeming person to me, and there are few actresses celebrated at her age. So to see the ones who are seem so disliked for a grab bag of reasons is just kinda depressing. Nothing she said was all that egregious and alot seemed tongue in cheek.
That is how I read it too. Love me some Helen Mirren. She is fantastic and smart.
I’m with you Jenn. Now Dame Helen has said some seriously problematic things in the past (relating to rape and rape culture) but nobody’s perfect and I think her comments were a product of the age she grew up in as well as a little bit of internalized misogyny. As for her comments in THIS interview, I could hear her voice in my head as she read and she remains one of the few celebs I’d like to meet and have a drink and a gabfest with.
I’m with you as well, Jenn. That interview was hilarious.
I am surprised that other commenters here overlooked that statement of hers, I thought that there would be a lot more talk about that. If we can agree that it is wrong to generalize a group based on the actions of a few, then why are people burying their heads in the sand when an ethno-linguistic group like Slavs are portrayed in such negative, derogative way? I feel that there are many misconceptions about Slavic people in the USA and it makes me so sad, because Slavic people are very diverse, with rich cultural heritage.
Slavic people are almost always portrayed in a very negative way, but we are white so most people don’t feel like they’re doing anything wrong.
@maple girl o man… here come the white tears
She’s obviously joking and playing to the fact that Melania seems to relish in this facade or perception….
I guess we weren’t widely persecuted in the West so people don’t feel like these generalizations are non-PC. There’s about 360 million Slavs of diverse ethnic, geographical and cultural heritage, but it’s still acceptable to cram us all into some stereotypical ‘Eastern European’ culture.
Those of us living in Croatia, Montenegro, Albania etc are all Mediterranean culturally and South European geographically but we all get lumped together as “East Europeans” as if we are the same as Romanians, Ukranians or Russians. It’s all very political more than anything else.
She is insulted when people offer a seat to her? When the hell does that happen?
If she ever, at that age had to shlep around town, bussing it on a regular basis, she would be grateful for the kindness. She reeks of privilege, silly cow.
Maybe she means when she enters a room late, say for a meeting or rehearsal, if the chairs are already occupied and someone offers to give up their seat? Though in that case I’d think it was more due to her star status
She doesn’t have anything more important to get upset about than someone trying to be kind by offering her a seat?? She’s ridiculous.
Grouping any area into regions is a thankless job… If you take a vertical line more or leas halfway through Europe then, yes, Slovenia, but also east Austria, the Czech Republic, invluding the Balkan Peninsula are all in East Europe- Can some of these countries be in the south and then central, yes. That would be a geographical regionalization. Further, you have political, linguistic and cultural regions which may or may not coincide fully with the geographical ones.
The Balkan Peninsula was butchered in the nineties and only the countries involved in conflict came to be known as the “Balkans”, an area which excludes some countries in the peninsula. This term is grating for most people from the region and I think there’s an effort to distance ones national identity from it to move past the association with conflict.
So Slovenia is in East Europe, parts of it south of the Sava river are on the Balkan Peninsula and unfortunately as it participated in the conflicts of the 90’s it is also “the Balkans”. Do Eastern Europeans have a dark soul – I’m npt quite sure what that means, but it does seem to feel like there’s a tendency to ‘exoticise’ a whole group of people and assign one defining and almost mystic attribute, something I have picked up on in my everyday thoughts about people and places and have bern trying to be informed and avoid.