Helen Mirren says she is ‘ageing with fun’ as she marks 80th birthday

By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter

British actress Helen Mirren has said she is “ageing with fun” rather than “gracefully” as she marks her 80th birthday.

The Academy Award-winning actress from London, who turned 80 on Saturday, is best known for playing the late Queen Elizabeth and detective Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, Mirren said she feels “insulted” when people tell her she looks good for her age, adding that she finds it “patronising”.

Mirren said: “I am not ageing gracefully at all! I hate that term – it sounds like you have to be elegant and accepting, and, no, I am not.

“I am ageing with fun, with commitment, but not gracefully. Who cares about graceful?

“We just do grow older, there’s no way you can escape that. You have to grow up with your own body, your own face and the way it changes.

“It’s not always easy but it is inevitable. You have to learn to accept it.”

As she marks her milestone birthday, she also shared her tops tips to keeping healthy and feeling good.

She said: “It’s as important to make the inside of you as healthy as the outside of you. I always go everywhere with my vitamins. That is probably the most important thing in my beauty bag, actually.

“What you eat, what you drink, what you don’t smoke, really makes a massive difference to your skin, especially as you progress through life.

“It’s incredibly important to feed the inside of your skin, as much as the outside of your skin.”

Mirren plays the Harrigan family matriarch Maeve Harrigan alongside Pierce Brosnan in Guy Ritchie’s MobLand.

She also stars in the upcoming Netflix film adaptation of Thursday Murder Club, based on the book series by game show host and author Richard Osman where Dame Helen plays one of four retirees alongside Brosnan, Celia Imrie and Sir Ben Kingsley, who spend their time solving cold case murders.