With an Oscar on her mantel and the right to use "Dame" before her name, Helen Mirren definitely doesn't need to strip down for the camera to publicize her latest movie. But when you look as good as she does at 65, why wouldn't you? The British actress has caused quite a stir by posing naked, soapy breasts quite visible through bathwater, in the latest issue of New York magazine (you can see it on the magazine's website). The photos, shot by artsy fashion photographer Juergen Teller, have an understated quality that helps Mirren come off as in control and anything but desperate for attention. They're arrestingly beautiful and beg the question, how the hell does she look better than many 45 year olds? I did a little research and discovered that there's no easy formula we can steal (or if there is, she's not telling), but her advice is the timeless kind that we should all follow anyway:
Diet, but not too strictly. She told USA Weekend in 2007: "I'm just like everybody else—I'm always on a diet!" but then she laughed and broke off a chunk of a cookie, saying "Can't you tell?"
Exercise, but not obsessively. According to The Daily Mail Mirren's no gym bunny: "I do it, but honestly, it's not particularly a beauty thing, it's just that as one gets older one has to keep up one's energy levels, and if you want to do that you can't stop exercising," she told them. She's also said that she gets lots of exercise by walking her dogs.
But don't overindulge either. "I've never done anything to excess," she told People in 2008. "I've never drunk or eaten too much. It helps to stay balanced."
Beauty sleep is serious biz. "When I'm working really hard, I don't party," Mirren told The Daily Mail. "I don't go to the bar after work. I don't go out to restaurants. I just go to bed. If I'm on a film, I even try to catch some sleep in my trailer at lunchtime . . . It's very important and, as you get older, it becomes more so."
Be yourself. "Her sensuality comes from her honesty," Mirren's husband Taylor Hackford told USA Weekend. "She's not hiding behind makeup or a baby-doll hairdo. She's the real thing."
So there you have it: No magical herbal remedies or wheat grass smoothies, just sensible, wholly unexciting advice, though I plan to heed it. The prospect of looking a little more like Mirren at her age, or any age, is enormous incentive.