Helen Mirren Has a 'Laissez-Faire' Attitude About Airbrushing

In her latest L’Oreal campaign, Dame Helen Mirren looks totally amazing. Despite accusations of airbrushing away her fine lines and wrinkles, there has been a judgment by the British Advertising Standards Agency to the contrary.

But despite the ASA ruling that L’Oreal didn’t retouch the TV ad, it seems Mirren is not opposed to the whole idea of airbrushing images.

After recent allegations that she didn’t allow digital manipulation, the Eye in the Sky actress revealed that she is actually extremely “laissez-faire” about the whole thing and has no problem with promotional posters being altered.

In a cover interview in the August edition of Woman & Home magazine, Dame Helen explained: “Contrary to what everyone says, I don’t not allow retouching. I’m very laissez-faire about it all. But when I was offered the gig to be an ambassador for L’Oreal, which was very exciting, I said, “Please don’t retouch me.”

“In the U.S., they retouch for film posters,” she continued. “That’s their business, of course — they’re advertising the movie. But I look at it and think, ‘I don’t look like that in real life, and certainly not in the movie.’ So I didn’t want something to say, ‘This is me, Helen Mirren’ and for L’Oreal to perpetuate something that isn’t true.”

Mirren then went on to explain that she needn’t have worried, since L’Oreal U.K. doesn’t retouch images “unless maybe there’s a hair out of place or a bra strap showing, which was music to my ears.”

And speaking of her appointment last year as the oldest face of L’Oreal, the actress explained how proud she was to represent the more mature woman in the beauty industry.

“All my life I’ve been looking at 16-year-old girls selling beauty, so I think it’s fabulous that they’re using a 70-year-old woman to sell products to other 60- to 80-year-old women.”

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.