20 Celebrities On the Joys of Getting Older

From Pamela Anderson to Tracee Ellis Ross, these stars take a moment to reflect on the "privilege" of getting older and how just like wine, life is only getting better with age!

Pamela Anderson

In conversation with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman on their podcast, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, in January 2023, Anderson shared her thoughts on having received so much attention based on her looks and how that's evolved with age.

After explaining that she "never felt like I was any kind of great beauty," she shared, "I can't wait to see myself old."

"I always said I'd recognize myself when I was old in the mirror. I want to let my hair go kind of natural gray, put my little straw hat on, don't wear makeup," she added. "I mean, that's my comfortable kind of state."

Melissa McCarthy

In 2018, McCarthy shared that for her, getting older has meant not sweating how others see her.

"Being in my 40s is such a great relief. I know myself better than I ever have," she told Today in 2018. "I don't worry about what the perception is. There's always going to be people that don't like something you're doing. As you get older, you can step into that and not be worrying about it."

Carol Burnett

For a recent PEOPLE cover story, Burnett reflected on her upcoming milestone birthday.

"I can't wrap my head around it," the comedy legend said of turning 90. "I still feel like I'm about 11, but I'm amazed. It sure went fast. But I'm glad because I've got all my parts — got my hips, I got my knees and I've got my brain, so I'm happy about that."

Halle Berry

Berry has shared many insights about growing older — especially in Hollywood.

In conversation with makeup artist Bobbi Brown for Yahoo Life!, Berry shared the importance of letting go of certain beauty ideals while acknowledging that might be easier said than done.

"We have to stop wanting to look like that decade before. We have to stop coveting that," she said. "Let it go and embrace it now and really be okay. It's easy to say, I guess, but that's the goal."

In regard to cosmetic procedures, Berry admitted that while it's tempting, she has her reservations.

"Aging is natural, and that's going to happen to all of us," she said.

"I just want to always look like myself, even if that's an older version of myself, I think when you do too much of that cosmetic stuff, you become somebody else in a way," she continued.

Reese Witherspoon

For the Legally Blonde alumna, the phrase "older and wiser" really does ring true.

"I have a point of view because I've been on this planet for 43 years, and I didn't feel that same way when I was 25," Witherspoon told Allure in 2019. "I didn't have the same things to say. I'm 43 and I've had a whole bunch of experiences, and I can speak with a thoughtfulness about the changes I'd like to see in the world, and ... I just feel like I earned that gray hair and my fine lines. I like 'em. I so prefer 43 to 25."

Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow won an Oscar at just 26 years old, but that doesn't mean the Goop founder is pining for the past.

"I am no longer in my 20s and 30s, I am 46 and I love being in my 40s," she said during a 2019 panel with CNN's Poppy Harlow at SXSW. "I think there is this incredible freedom that comes with a woman in her 40s and understanding that this is who I am and I've stopped worrying so much about what people think of me."

Eva Mendes

In 2020, the mother of two clapped back at an Instagram user who commented "she's getting old," on a post debuting the actress' new haircut. Mendes used the moment to share her gratitude for getting older.

"Yes your [sic] right," the actress replied. "Thank God I'm getting old. That means I'm still here. I'm gonna be 46 soon and grateful everyday that I'm aging. Was your comment suppose to make me feel bad? It didn't."

"It makes me feel grateful," she continued. "So thank you for the reminder that I'm still here. ❤️❤️❤️."

Justine Bateman

Bateman, who says she will never undergo plastic surgery, spoke to Glamour in 2021 about her then-upcoming book and why she doesn't fret about her looks.

"I think things are going to come my way whether my face is wrinkled or my skin is loose on my neck and under my eyes, or not," she said. "Am I going to enjoy it or not enjoy it? Because right now I have a book coming out and I have a film that just premiered at a big film festival. If I was fixated on the fact that my face looks like it's 55, I would be completely screwing myself out of enjoying this moment in my life. It's happening whether I'm happy with the way my face looks or not. So what's my attitude going to be? Am I going to spend time obsessing on the fact that my face is naturally aging? It's ridiculous. No. I'm going to have a good f---ing time!"

In another chat discussing her book, Face: One Square Foot of Skin, with The Sydney Morning Herald, the Family Ties alumna highlighted how she views her own process of aging.

"I think about how many tears have come through this face, how much joy, how much exhaustion or exuberance – that's an incredible collection of experience that this really small area of my body has taken on," she said. "Of course I see someone who's older, but when I first saw my neck skin getting looser, I said to myself, 'Well, that's what a cool neck looks like.' "

Connie Britton

Britton, whose career has spanned decades and has seen her step into iconic roles on series like Nashville and Friday Night Lights, said that when it comes to getting older, she's "ready."

"People tell me the 50s are the best time – I'm ready," she told Good Housekeeping in 2017. "That whole stigma of being over 40 and not being sexy anymore is fake news. We're more vibrant because we have experience, we know our bodies. I have a friend who says that you always want to make sure it's your life that you're living — it's a constant mantra."

Kristen Bell

Bell shared that despite surface-level changes that might come with age, she choose to focus on what's going on on the inside.

"I feel more in charge of my life and happier than I've ever felt, and that's because of wisdom, and how I've evolved as a person," the Frozen star told NewBeauty in 2020. "Did I have an easier time getting in shape and a better bathing-suit body in my 20s? Sure, but if I weigh all that against the wisdom I have now that I'm 40, there's no comparison. I'm loving it and I'm wearing it like a badge of honor."

Tracee Ellis Ross

Ross echoed Bell's sentiment in a recent conversation on NPR's podcast It's Been a Minute when asked about how she feels about aging.

"Well, I personally have always loved getting older, like genuinely, I think it's an honor to get older," she said. "Not everybody gets to get older, and I'm not sure why we don't look at it that way."

She continued, "I know we are obsessed with youth. I would not go back if you paid me. Sure, my skin was tighter. Sure, my legs held muscle in a different way. But, I am so much more comfortable in my skin."

Elizabeth Banks

The Cocaine Bear director said that while she understands that people like to focus on staying young, growing older is "a privilege."

"We live in a society that loves and values youth and beauty," Banks told PEOPLE recently while discussing her partnership with No7. "I get it. I love looking at beautiful young people too. I like to remind people, you're never going to look as good as you do today, right now, because aging is a privilege. It's better than the alternative, right? You want to age, trust me."

Angelina Jolie

For the mom of six, growing older means looking in the mirror and seeing someone near and dear to her.

"I look in the mirror and I see that I look like my mother, and that warms me," Jolie told InStyle in a 2018. "I also see myself aging, and I love it because it means I'm alive—I'm living and getting older. Don't love having a random dark spot from a pregnancy, sure. I see my flaws. But what I see that I like isn't about a structure or an appearance. It's more that I see my family in my face. I see my age."

Dolly Parton

The country legend has been in show business for more than 50 years and has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.

"It'll happen when it happens. That's how I feel," the country legend told PEOPLE in 2018 of getting older and wiser. "I am grateful that I am still here. So many people have more talent than I've ever dreamed of having that never get to see dreams come true."

Katherine Heigl

Upon celebrating her 40th birthday in 2018, the Firefly Lane actress took a moment to reflect on what the milestone meant.

"Well…I am officially 40 years old," she wrote on Instagram to kick off the lengthy post. "I know you're going [to] think I'm full of it but the truth is…I'm pretty damn thrilled to be 40."

"40 feels to me like a certain kind of freedom," she continued later on in the post. "Freedom from all the self doubt, insecurities, self loathing, uncertainties and anxieties of my 20's and 30's. Not to say I don't still have those moments but I just feel like 40 makes me older and wiser. Steadier in my convictions. More certain of my strengths. More forgiving of my faults."

Carrie Ann Inaba

During an April 2019 episode of The Talk, the Dancing with the Stars judge opened up about her thoughts on aging — and how it's about more than what's going on on the outside.

"As you get older, the thing that happens is, I've noticed I appreciate people's beauty by what you see in their eyes — like the joy or the courage or the bravery, or when you're sitting next to them and you feel their compassion or their warmth or their spirit of determination," Inaba, who was featured in PEOPLE's 2019 Beautiful Issue, said.

She added: "To me that's beauty, so I think people do get more beautiful as they get older."

Sharon Stone

In 2020, Stone chatted with AARP The Magazine alongside Alfre Woodard and Jane Fonda about how things change after turning 50.

"I've stopped questioning everything, and that gives me a lot more room to breathe," Stone, who was 58 at the time, shared. "I think it's just getting comfortable in yourself – in everything – but certainly the work."

Like other actresses have noted, Stone said she sees aging as "great thing."

"I frankly think aging is a great thing, and we're lucky when we get to do it because, particularly in our generation, we've lost so many people to so many different things," she added.

Alfre Woodard

During the same interview, Woodard agreed with Stone and shared her own two cents on how her work has changed with time.

"You're a mess in the first act, going on instinct and bravado," she said. "I'm better now at all the things you can't touch with your hands. I'm more discerning. My joy is deeper and less shakeable. My craft is really fine-tuned."

Cameron Diaz

In 2022, the Charlie's Angels alumna said that part of her appreciation for aging came after becoming a mom.

"The whole concept of aging has just changed completely, even in the last 10 years," Diaz, who shares daughter Raddix with her husband Benji Madden told Gwyneth Paltrow during an episode of GOOP's podcast. "It's totally opened up. I'm excited. I've got 50 or 60 years to go — I want to live to be 110, since I've got a young child."

"I think you have this amazing moment in your 40s where you appreciate who your parents are, and I want to have that moment with her — be there with her in her 40s," she continued.

Iman

The supermodel shared that her perception of aging has been influenced by her heritage.

"That's a very Western mentality," Iman told British Vogue for a January 2023 cover story when asked about the obsession around aging. "I come from Africa, we celebrate getting older."

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