There’s nothing you can do about it so you may as well embrace it, says Alicia Keys.
Instead of fighting the ageing process, the songbird is trying to look at it as an opportunity to gain wisdom by opening the door to new experiences.
Alicia (42) says she has made peace with the fact she’s growing older.
“I think you get more beautiful as you get older,” the Grammy award-winning singer says.
Alicia, who is the mother of two boys – Egypt (13) and Genesis (8) – and wife to music producer and rapper Swizz Beatz – says she’s enjoying the wisdom that comes with age.
“I love being more conscious. I love being aware of what I think,” she says.
In an interview with The Cut, celebrating her 20 years in the music industry, she says she’s cracked the code and is now comfortable with getting older, which invites a new sense of stillness.
“I feel like there’s something about it. Your heart opens more. You have a quality about you that is so much stronger in a way. I really know that you become more beautiful as you recognise these things about yourself, as you become wiser, as you become older, as you become more yourself, who you actually are,” says Alicia, who has her own skincare brand, Keys Soulcare.
“I love being in touch with what I think and being comfortable knowing that what I know is the right thing for me, that I don’t have to seek so much validation from everybody else to decide if that’s a good thing for me or not,” she says.
She candidly expresses how the only age she’d be willing to go back to would be her 20s because it’s a perfect opportunity to learn and get guidance.
“We need a lot of guidance and a lot of help. You have to learn, you have to grow, you have to try. But you need the awareness to realise that it’s okay that you still need guidance. You still need a parent figure of some sort or mentors. If I were to do it over, I would do it over with that in mind, to know that I didn’t have to shoulder everything by myself,” she says.
Age is a hot topic that many celebs are often quizzed about – and they all have different approaches.
Jennifer Lawrence
Academy award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence (33) says as she gets older, she has to put up with people asking questions about whether she’s had work done on her face.
“I started at 19, so I get the before and after pictures from when I’m 19 to 30 and I’m like, ‘’I grew up. I lost baby weight in my face, and my face changed because I’m ageing,’” she said in a sit-down interview with makeup mogul Kylie Jenner.
“Everybody thought I had a nose job, and I’m like, ‘I’ve had the exact same nose. My cheeks got smaller. Thank you for bringing it up,’” Jennifer says.
She attributes much of the change in her appearance to makeup done by hired makeup artists who know a thing or two about transforming the face.
“It’s incredible what makeup can do because I work with [makeup artist] Hung [Vanngo], who overlines the lip, and I call him a plastic surgeon because everybody in the last few months since I’ve been working with him is convinced that I had eye surgery,” JLaw says.
“I didn’t have eye surgery. I’m doing makeup,” she adds.
Jennifer Lopez
Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez (54) says she’s embracing the beauty that comes with age.
JLo is grateful that attitudes are changing and there are now more acting roles available for older women.
“People have realised that women just get sexier as they get older. They get more learned and more rich with character,” she tells Elle magazine.
“All of that is very beautiful and attractive, and not just physically, but on the inside, the beauty that you gain as you get older, the wisdom you gain,” she adds.
The mom of 15-year-old twins Emme and Max says as you get older you gain wisdom and experience. “You become a richer human being and you have more to offer. The idea of, ‘There’s nothing really valuable about watching a woman over 30’ is so ridiculous, it’s the opposite of right. It just makes me laugh,” she says.
Drew Barrymore
In a candid conversation on the Drew Barrymore Show, the host and her guest, actress Tracee Ellis Ross (50), seemed to be on the same page when it comes to ageing.
“I’m gonna be 48 this year. I’m excited to get to any form of liberation as far as not overthinking, worrying and overstressing. I do that a lot,” Drew said.
Tracee added that she doesn’t think it’s possible to ever entirely stop, worrying and overstressing but she’s found it is possible to change how she reacts when the overthinking habit kicks in.
“Because I feel like my wiring is my wiring, and that’s okay, but now I have enough of a relationship with myself to go, ‘Oh, you’re doing it again,’” she says.
