Helen Mirren hits back at the stereotype that older women shouldn’t grow their hair

Helen Mirren has hit back at the stereotype that older women ‘shouldn’t’ grow out their hair, after debuting her new longer tresses.

The actress, 77, has been showing off her ‘radical’ new look while promoting her appearance as the villain Hespera in Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Now, Helen has admitted she grew out her hair during lockdown and decided she ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to cut it, and is planning to keep it for the timebeing.

Speaking on Wednesday’s Lorraine, Helen hit back at the stereotype that older women are not ‘supposed’ to have long hair as it generally it thins with age.

She said: ‘You’re not supposed to have longer hair after a certain age.

Edgy! Helen Mirren has hit back at the stereotype that older women shouldn’t grow out their hair, after debuting her new longer tresses

‘But during Covid, I started growing my hair and I hadn’t actually had long hair since I was in my 20s. And it sort of grew and grew and grew, and I couldn’t be bothered to cut it, basically.

‘I thought, do you know what, it’s pretty cool, I think I’ll stick with it for a little while. It will come off eventually.

‘But I’m kind of enjoying it, it’s quite radical.’

Helen also discussed how she feels flying the flag for women over 60, saying: ‘Life doesn’t stop. And creativity doesn’t stop and passion doesn’t stop and energy doesn’t stop, unless you decide to stop it.

‘So it’s just be self-motivated, really, and never give up. And find enjoyment, if it’s possible in your life.’

Recent weeks have seen Helen abandon her signature bob for long platinum waves in a flashback to her 70s heyday.

Helen has previously vowed to defied beauty standards for older women, insisting her generation has been subject for ageism for ‘far too long.’ 

She told Grazia in 2019: ‘It’s extremely annoying to women of my generation and others following mine to have beauty products sold on a 15-year-old face.’

Experimenting: The actress is known for usually wearing her hair in a statement bob (left) or even shorter but has recently been showing off her new longer hair (right)

Interview: Speaking on Wednesday’s Lorraine, Helen hit back at the stereotype that older women are not ‘supposed’ to have long hair as it generally it thins with age

She also said she doesn’t like using the term ‘beauty’ because it makes people who are insecure about their looks feel ‘immediately excluded’.

‘They’ll think, ‘Well, I’m not very beautiful. It’s all very well for all these beautiful women, but I don’t feel beautiful’,’ she explained.

‘I don’t want to exclude these people from feeling fabulous about themselves.’

It comes after Dame Helen revealed that she broke her finger while performing her own stunts on the set of Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

The actress said she was ‘incredibly brave’ and didn’t complain after the incident because she wanted to be a ‘real ”stunty” person’.

Speaking about filming action scenes while on The Graham Norton Show, she said: ‘I did some of my own stunts, but I broke my finger.

‘I was incredibly brave and didn’t say anything or complain because I wanted to be a real “stunty” person.’

Edgy! Recent weeks have seen Helen abandon her signature bob for long platinum waves in a flashback to her 70s heyday

Talking about the film in general she went on to say: ‘Don’t ask me about the plot, it’s too complicated!

‘We are angry goddesses wearing unbelievably heavy costumes. It was very hot and uncomfortable and in fact Lucy (Liu) said at the end of the first day’s shooting, ”They are trying to kill us” in all seriousness.

‘I wanted to do it because I loved the first Shazam. It was sweet and funny. I am not a big superhero type person, but I loved the idea of it and happily signed up for the second one. It is great.’

Lorraine airs weekdays from 9am on ITV1 and ITVX.