Actress Andie MacDowell, who dazzled the Cannes Film Festival this month with her salt-and-pepper tresses, has said she was told by her management that it was "not time" to embrace her grey hair.
In an interview with Vogue, The Four Weddings and a Funeral star recounted: "At the very beginning of quarantine, my hair started growing and every time my kids would see me, they kept telling me I looked badass with my grey hair. When I pulled it up in a bun, all you could see was the salt-and-pepper, which is what I am, you know, dark and silver. I like to compare myself to George Clooney because why not?"
"I've been saying for a while now it was time for me, personally, to make that transition because I felt like it was appropriate for my personality and just who I am," MacDowell continued.
"I got a job and very quickly I had to make up my mind about what I was going to do. My managers had actually said to me, 'It's not time'. And I said, 'I think you're wrong, and I'm going to be more powerful if I embrace where I am right now. It's time because in two years I'm going to be 65. If I don't do it now, I won't have the chance to be salt-and-pepper. I always wanted to be salt-and-pepper!'"
MacDowell admitted that she was apprehensive herself "at first".
"I was so cautious because I didn't want anybody to be upset, and I was trying to figure out how I could wear wigs to please people," she explained.
"But then once I did it, it was just so clear to me that my instincts were right because I've never felt more powerful. I feel more honest. I feel like I'm not pretending. I feel like I'm embracing right where I am. I feel really comfortable. And in a lot of ways, I think it's more striking on my face. I just feel like it suits me."
MacDowell said she had been inspired by women who are not in the public eye "going silver" on Instagram.
"I did Google actors with salt-and-pepper hair," she added. "There's lots of men that do it! One person said that when they saw themselves with coloured hair, it just looked like they were trying to look younger.
"I think that's what started to happen to me. The age on my face, to me, no longer matched. I somehow feel like I look younger because it looks more natural. It's not like I'm trying to hide something. I think that it's a power move, and that's what I kept telling my managers. It's exactly what I need to be doing right here."
