Of course Joanna Lumley is ageing gracefully. She's an ex-model and one of the most beautiful women on the planet. Plus, she wants to be taken seriously now. She could cut her hair off and pull out her teeth and she'd still be 800 times hotter than most of us.
Ageing gracefully. How do you do it? Why do you do it? Who determines what gracefully is? and does it mean "Please remove all signs of your sexuality and slowly fade back into the shadows!"
Ageing gracefully. My partner who is a few years younger than me always says "Just keep doing what you're doing babe. You look great. I love the mane of hair! I love the waxing and the Botox. Just keep doing your thing!" The thing is, I do like looking after my skin, and although I appreciate lines and grey hair on other people, I'm not keen on them myself.
My mother is still glam in her 80s. She was glam all her life. Mum never went out the front door without hair, makeup and pumps. I know other women sometimes felt bitter towards my mum. Once, when she and some other 60-year-olds went on a European bus trip she was labelled "glamour puss", and not in a jolly way. More the way that other women spit the words when one woman is getting all the male attention (not a fair fight. Five elderly women to every elderly man!)
Whenever my picture comes out in a magazine, which is of course photoshopped to get rid of warts and spinach between my teeth, I get a slew of messages and emails from women vilifying me for not ageing gracefully.