Helen Mirren Talks!

On Being Named Best Body and "Celebrating Your Age"

Life goes strong- exclusive one-on-one talk with Helen Mirren By: Cindy Pearlman
reproduced on wisanow

Helen Mirren: "There needs to be an attitude change on aging."
"I think there has been a seed change in people's attitudes about aging. An awful lot of women look fabulous in their 60s, 70s and 80s," Dame Helen Mirren is telling me.
"We should be applauded and encouraged for our ages," she says.
Yesterday before she filmed her new Phil Spector biopic with Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and I had a little Sunday afternoon chat about being a midlifer.
In the end: I want to be Helen Mirren when I grow up. But who doesn't?
It's not just the Oscar on her mantle or her happy marriage to director Taylor Hackford. (Yes, I've seen them canoodling in line in LA on a Saturday night waiting to go into a movie).
There are other accolades.
You might have heard that a week or two ago, an L.A. Fitness poll proclaimed the 66-years-young Mirren as having the best body around.
The always-humble Mirren hasn't talked much about this…until now.
She says, "I gratefully accept kindness from strangers! I just don't quite know how this happened."
"It was pretty amazing to hear about this poll because it comes from people who work out and that's not always the case for me."

HELEN MIRREN ON AGING
Helen and I had a frank discussion of aging. First, we hit a few body issues.
"As far as I'm concerned, I've toddled on in my own sweet way doing my thing," she says of her amazing body and her lack of a fitness routine. 
"I feel very undeserving," she adds. "I have feet of clay and knees and a bottom of clay just like anyone else."
Helen admits, "I'm far from being a big workout person. Honestly, there are so many others who have a better physique than I do."
Yet women over 50 everywhere celebrated when she won this poll. It was one major step for midlifer kind.
"I do believe there is a change in perception about aging and looking good," Helen says. "I think there has been a seed change in people's attitudes and me being the recipient of this poll is a good thing because it shows that change in attitude."
"I think this change should be applauded and encouraged because it helps all of us," she says.
"We're all going to age – and I love this idea that we can win a poll about looking good because that leads to a booster shot in self esteem for all women and men."
What about this idea that women just age (tick tock) and men get more handsome?
"This whole idea of women not aging as well as the man or better is just nonsense, if you ask me," she says. "So many of the ladies look so much better."

HELEN MIRREN, THE INSPIRATION
I ask her: Would you ever want to go back to your 20-year-old self?
Helen laughs. "I'd never go back to 20, but sometimes I'd like to be my age now inside my mind with the gorgeous 20-year-old body …just for a few days!"
She laughs and says that she embraces aging.
"People face challenges throughout their lives of one sort or another," she says. "The most challenging thing about aging is the failure of your body or dealing with ill health.
"I celebrate feeling good above everything else," she says.
"I embrace my age because there is no point in drawing a veil over the reality of life. I accept the absolute reality of what is happening to me as the years pass. The reality is if you're very fortunate you do live long and get older," she says.
"You can't look away from it. It happens," she says.
What about those who try to stop time?
"To desperately try to pretend aging isn't happening is silly," she says. "You can obviously try to make yourself look and feel as good as you can look at feel. That's legitimate.
"But at the same time, you have to find a way to deal with the fact that, yes, you're getting older! Everyone is getting older. Celebrate the time. Celebrate the days with those you love," she says.

HELEN ON THE BIG SCREEN
Helen isn't slowing down for a second.
She also has her name above the title in the much-awaited "The Debt" directed by John Madden. Mirren plays Rachel Singer, a former Mossad agent and hero who has been celebrated constantly over her lifetime for going undercover to kill a vicious Nazi war criminal who conducted medical experiments at the camps. But is he really dead?
She even has a fight scene where she rolls around on the ground with a former Nazi.
"It was physically demanding, but it's easier to do a fight scene than a three page scene from Shakespeare," she jokes.
She also stars in the upcoming Phil Spector biopic with Al Pacino. Recently, she replaced Bette Midler who had a back injury and couldn't do the role of Spector's attorney Linda Baden.
Ask the Oscar winner if she was intimidated to emote opposite Pacino?
"I get very intimidated by big movie stars when I first meet them. I feel insecure to work with someone like Al, but I know that he loves actors and the process of acting," she says.
That's the body of work.
As for maintaining the body, she laughs.
"I watch Martha Stewart and then go out in the garden and dig around. Is that cardio?" she ponders.