Dame Helen Mirren Graces Cover Of People’s 2022 ‘Beautiful’ Issue

By Becca Longmire. Published: 27 Apr 2022 9:37 AM Last updated: 27 Apr 2022 9:37 AM

Helen Mirren. — People

Dame Helen Mirren is on the cover of People’s 2022 “Beautiful” issue.

The 76-year-old was shocked to learn she’d been chosen as the cover star, telling the magazine: “I was absolutely sort of gobstruck, as we say in England. I never considered myself ‘beautiful’. And [at] my age! So I was amazed.

“Don’t get me wrong — I love beauty and I love looking at beautiful things. But I don’t like the word beauty [as it’s] associated with the beauty industry—makeup and products, skin care and all the rest of it — because I think it excludes the vast majority of us who are not beautiful.”

The L’Oreal Paris spokesperson shared, “There are incredibly beautiful people in the world, and it’s an absolute delight to look at them, male or female. Beautiful people are a wonder to behold.

“But most of us are not beautiful. We have other stuff, which is just as powerful as beauty. And I would like to see us celebrate those things … I love the word swagger because I think swagger means I’m confident in myself, I’m presenting myself to the world, I’m enjoying the world around me.

“I think what is called the beauty industry should be called the swagger industry. We’re giving people swagger.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Mirren spoke about her incredibly successful career, spanning over five decades.

Despite starring in numerous films over the years, she said she still gets nervous before a new project.

“I get very nervous about the day-to-day process. And meeting and dealing with new people. And not knowing whether I am going to remember my lines or not.

“I just get very frightened until I get into the swing of things and then I kind of relax.”

Mirren added that she sleeps easier once she’s finished shooting a film, “Once it’s done I’m not nervous, because it’s done, you can’t pull it back. It’s the doing of it that I get nervous about.”