As a celebrated performer for nearly four decades and a successful model for even longer, Andie MacDowell is used to the spotlight. She was not, however, quite prepared to go viral after stepping onto the 2021 Cannes Film Festival red carpet. The reason? Appearing at her first major public event in the wake of the pandemic, she re-emerged with a glorious mane of silver-streaked hair, a result of her decision — unconventional by Hollywood standards — to stop dying it and try going au naturel. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive with both the media and the public applauding her new look and the message behind it.
“I couldn’t have predicted the response,” MacDowell recalls. “I think people were excited to see me embracing my age. And I think the color is nice on me. It suits me.”
These days, MacDowell, 64, is feeling herself — and with good reason. “I wasn’t raised in a way that gave me the foundation to be very confident,” she explains. “It’s something that’s taken a lot of time. One of the joys of being where I am in my life right now is that I’ve done so much work on myself and I’m finally in a place where my life is very grounded. Because of that, I’m more joyful and more content.”
She takes great physical care of herself by staying active and sticking to a vegetable-laden (though not vegetarian) diet. “I study food constantly. It fascinates me. I’m always paying attention to what different vegetables do, how different vegetables have different vitamins and how important it is to have that be the emphasis of our diet. I would say the majority of foods I eat are vegetables, sometimes up to 12 different vegetables a day. People are usually astounded by that. I don’t eat a lot of meat and when I do, I eat it in sort of a celebration mode. During the wintertime, if I’m out skiing or I’m working really hard outside, I’ll have an organic steak. It should be all about real foods and about the quality of them. It’s easy for me because I like to eat that way. I feel better and I enjoy it.”
Prioritizing and being vocal about the value of mental health is equally important to MacDowell. In fact, she’ll be the keynote speaker at Ruth & Norman Rales JFS Feb. 15 Reflections of Hope luncheon at Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton benefiting mental health and counseling programs. “My mother, right after I was born, was given shock treatments because she was struggling and had some pretty desperate problems going on. When she came home, that was it. She didn’t continue to get therapy because she was embarrassed, humiliated. She became an alcoholic because there was no support system.”
“There cannot be any stigma around mental health any more than there could be stigma around diabetes,” MacDowell adds. “It’s a part of our body. It’s actually a really important part of our bodies, even for people who don’t think they have mental health issues. We all have emotional issues. We can all benefit from learning how to be more in touch with our emotions and our feelings and how to deal with them, all of us.”
Growing up in Gaffney, South Carolina, MacDowell describes a “difficult” childhood that stemmed from her mother’s depression and drinking. Blessed with wholesome glamour and a wide, welcoming smile, she moved to New York to pursue modeling in 1978 and signed with the agency Elite soon after. Six years later, she made her acting debut with a lead role in 1984’s Tarzan movie, “Greystroke.” For the rest of the eighties and nineties, she went on to star in memorable fan favorites across all genres including “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Greencard, “Groundhog Day” and, of course, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” She’s since appeared in a scope of film and television roles, ranging from the “Magic Mike” sequel to heart-warming movies for Hallmark network. And in 2021, she played Paula in the Netflix series “Maid,” based on the best-selling memoir. The lead character, Alex, a single mom struggling to stay financially afloat by cleaning houses, was played by MacDowell’s own real-life daughter, Margaret Qualley.
MacDowell was both surprised and honored to have been Qualley’s first pick for the role. “She asked for me,” says MacDowell. “That completely blew my mind. I didn’t raise her watching my movies, that wasn’t our relationship, so I was extremely honored she wanted me there. I just made sure to give her space and treat her like the leading lady, because that’s who she was, and also at the same time, I was still cooking for her on the weekends. We were there for each other, we had each other’s back. It was really wonderful.”
It was Qualley, 28, one of MacDowell’s three children (including daughter Rainey, 31, and son Justin, 36) who dubbed her mom a “badass” following MacDowell’s post-lockdown hair transformation, a term MacDowell quite enjoys. “I do think it’s given me a certain strength and power that I’ve never felt before. I got really tired of feeling like I was only valuable if I was perceived as someone younger, so it’s a great relief for me that I can own my age.”
“The job that I’m working on right now, I just had a conversation with one of the creators, I’m playing a grandmother and I asked her, I said, ‘Now, I’m going to still be vital and vibrant and attractive right?’,” she recounts. “I said, ‘I’m not just having to be an old granny, am I?’ I don’t want to be that. I don’t think I am that any more than a man would be. I love the role that I’m playing now but I would love to play a silver fox, like a really sexy mature woman, not necessarily with a younger guy, but one that exudes power and charisma.”
“Then again,” she laughs, “maybe I’ll just play that in my real life.”
Beyond a prolific acting career, MacDowell is now in her third decade as a L’Oréal spokesperson, the longest in the cosmetic brand’s history. “So much has changed,” she notes. “My real name is Rosalie, Rosalie Anderson MacDowell. When I first went to New York in the seventies, they told me I looked too European. They didn’t want me to be called Rose so I took Andie from my middle name. Now, there’s more value being placed on authenticity.”
“There has been effort to change, but it hasn’t been overnight,” she continues. “There is progress. I love when I see the runway and it’s not just super skinny models. And I do think there needs to be diversity in age and that’s one thing L’Oréal has been in the forefront of doing, of promoting all ages of women as beautiful. We’re beautiful at all ages.”
As for New Year’s resolutions? “You know,” she shares, “I’ve decided that since I’ve worked for so long and my career has meant so much to me that I’m going to start doing a little more internal work. I want to keep growing. I don’t expect to have exuberance or joy all the time — I’ve been down this road long enough to know that’s impossible — but to feel more ease and contentment. That’s my goal, to feel that and work on my heart, work on myself and work on knowing myself fully and being able to be everything I want to be, for myself and others.”
That, she says, is her definition of true fitness and health. “That,” she adds. “And great walks in nature. That’s it in a nutshell.”