Andie MacDowell isn't afraid to be considered "old."
"I say it to people all the time, 'I'm old,' and they'll go, 'No, you're not,' and I go, 'Yes, I am,'" she tells TODAY.com in a sit-down interview that took place following her appearance on TODAY Jan. 11.
And that's perfectly fine, according to the "Groundhog Day" actor.
"I saw a clip of Brad Pitt when I was scrolling (on Instagram) saying, ‘I’m old,’ and I was like, ‘Yes! That’s what I’ve been saying. I’m old!’” MacDowell explains.
“Of course ... look at Brad Pitt. But, he was saying it.”
Currently starring with Chyler Leigh and Sadie Laflamme-Snow in the Hallmark series "The Way Home," the 65-year-old says that she doesn't consider aging a bad thing, but rather something to embrace — and certainly not something be ashamed of.
"I don't think 'old' is a bad word for me. What is bad, however, are are all the negative connotations around aging, especially for women. Even younger people," MacDowell says. "We're so hard on ourselves."
Rather than being discouraged, the long-time model and actor is owning every one of her 65 years and, in the process, redefining what it means to age in the public eye.
In recent years, MacDowell has been in the headlines for letting her trademark dark curls go gray — a shocking choice, at least by Hollywood standards, but one that's gained her both respect and admirers.
Among them? Gwyneth Paltrow, who says she finds MacDowell inspiring.
"I love when you see Andie MacDowell, in all her power, walking down the runway with this gorgeous shock of gray curls," Paltrow told TODAY.com during a recent interview.
What does MacDowell think of being called powerful?
"I do think there is power and owning where you are. And it's not to say that if you're coloring your hair, that's a bad thing, I do think it can make you look younger," she says. "But there's also great beauty in having no shame about being an older person, particularly an older woman," who she says, unlike men, often lose the status of being a "sexual being" after a certain age.
"We do it to ourselves because we've been taught it, so we procreate it. Even ourselves. We diminish each other. If you dated a younger man, everybody would think it was scandalous. They would make fun of you. But a man does it and it's, of course, normal. All of those guys, they all do it. But if it were a woman, it would be front page news."
It's a disparity that MacDowell says needs to change, but that isn't going to happen overnight. "We are saying it, but nothing's changing," she says. "Casting for men in their 40s and 50s; it's easy."
For women? Not so much. Despite that, MacDowell says she's at peace with it.
"I'm in a great place now because I'm only going to play old. I don't have to worry about it anymore. I'm just old. I've got silver here. I know what I'm going to be cast as. But they'll never cast me with a younger man," she explains.
Nor does she have any interest in dating one. "I don’t wanna do it. It’s just way too much work for me."
Doing her own skinny-dipping stunt
While she has no plans to date a younger guy at present, she has no problem playing characters who would, or that are perceived as being "sexual," "alluring" and "strong."
In fact, MacDowell credits Hallmark for giving her character, Del Landry, a spicy scene in the upcoming season of "The Way Home," which premieres on Jan. 21.
Referring to it as the "skinny-dipping thing," MacDowell says she was offered the option of using a stunt double for the shoot, which has her running half-naked into a lake, but she opted to do it herself instead.
"The director said, 'We can do it in one take if you want to do it,' and I said, 'Yes. I wanna do it.'"
According to the "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" actor, the scene was shot on a frigid November night in Canada and took a fair amount of courage to do, given she had to run into Lake Ontario without any clothes on.
"I have on my underwear, but I thought it was pretty brave for Hallmark to do, or anybody, a 65-year-old woman. And I loved how I played it," she says.
MacDowell says she didn't feel the need to prepare for the revealing scene.
"I didn't diet or anything. I didn't worry about my body. It's like, at a certain point, you're so tired of having to think about those things," she says.
"I stand in front of the mirror and I can see all the bits and pieces that I just hate. And I only have X amount of time left. I'm 65. So, how long will I live? I don't know. Am I going to do this for the rest of my life? Am I constantly going to expect myself to look like a 20-something-year-old?" she asks. "I just can't do it. I just can't. Not my hair, not my face, not my body."
Instead, she says that she simply "ripped my clothes off" before running into the water. "I haven't seen the scene yet, I hope it looks good and I hope I look decent."
'Wrinkles tell a story'
After being discovered by Wilhelmina Models while on a trip to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, MacDowell spent years as a runway and print model before transitioning into acting.
She made several films before being cast in the Oscar-nominated movie "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," a role that earned her a Golden Globe nomination and led to some of her best-known films including 1993's "Groundhog Day" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" in 1994.
Since then, MacDowell has appeared in dozens of other movies and TV series, including the 2021 Netflix series "Maid," in which she stars opposite Margaret Qualley, 29, who is one of MacDowell's three children, along with Justin, 37, and Rainey, 33.
At 65, MacDowell says she’s not only OK with where she’s at, but happy with how far she’s come. “If you saw where I came from, what I have been through, how I was raised...I wasn’t given great opportunities. I created opportunities,” she tells TODAY.com.
If she could go back and give her younger self some advice knowing what she knows now, MacDowell says she wouldn't change much other than to offer herself some reassurance.
"I would tell myself, 'You're really smart and everything's going to turn out just fine. And trust yourself. And you make good decisions.' I really wouldn't correct too much because I'm honestly astonished with what I've accomplished."
Looking forward, MacDowell hopes that, in time, the negative perceptions around growing older will begin to shift.
"I've always looked to older people and revered them. I think it should be a time when you are looked up to and you're treated like a queen because you've achieved something," she explains.
"I feel like when you get to a certain age, you look up to people, you want to ask them questions, you want to hear their stories. And their wrinkles tell a story, or however they look, it tells a beautiful story."
