Except for her crazy views on date rape and the profession of nursing, I really like and admire Helen Mirren. I just pretend that she’s not a bit loony and concentrate on all of the cool stuff she says. She usually has interesting stuff to say about aging and plastic surgery and body image, and this new interview is even more awesomeness. Mirren was interviewed by a British magazine called… Women’s Home (maybe?), and The Daily Mail has the fabulous quotes. Mirren talks about sucking in your gut, how she doesn’t care for her bottom half, and her years-long love affair with stripper heels:

All those women who felt intimidated by those pictures of a sixtysomething Dame Helen Mirren wearing a bikini can breathe easy. Or rather not, because the Oscar-winning actress has revealed the secret of her surprisingly toned midriff is sucking in her stomach.

The 65-year-old says ‘holding your tummy in is another trick for making you look and feel good’, adding: ‘I don’t know why, but I do, by nature, hold my tummy in.’

Dame Helen claims that despite being happy to strip off for a variety of roles over the years, even she has her body hang-ups, telling Woman And Home magazine: ‘Bits of my body are all right, but bits of me are horrible. To be honest, anything from the waist down I don’t really like.’

The Calendar Girls star also reveals her ‘secret weapons’ for a confidence boost, explaining: ‘Four-inch platforms give you great height and make your legs look unbelievably long. I used only to be able to get them in stripper shops, but now you can buy them everywhere – although, unfortunately, that means everyone else has discovered the trick too.’

Revealing she has cut and dyed her trademark platinum blonde bob herself in her bathroom since the 1980s, Dame Helen also calls for more flattering outfits for older women, because ‘as you get older, there’s more you want to cover up’.

‘My big complaint is, why aren’t more dresses made with sleeves?’ she said. ‘I don’t want to wear a frumpy jacket over a sleeveless dress and it enrages me that it’s so difficult to find anything beautiful with sleeves. If you think of Elizabethan dresses or turn-of-the-century fashions, there are some amazing things you can do with sleeves, so why do so few designers put them on their dresses?’

[From The Daily Mail]

Oooh, I cut my own hair too! Of course, I don’t have a bob. That must be really difficult to do yourself! I have long hair, so it doesn’t really matter that I cut it myself. Me and Helen should compare our haircut methods. Dual mirrors? Also: I too lament the lack of sleeves in dresses these days. It’s not about aging, though – it has everything to do with my boobs. I look like a hooker when I wear tank tops – and I have never worn strapless in my life. Note to designers: bring back sleeves.