Beauty is something that we all take with us and our standards of beauty are often shaped by the world around us. There are also those who recognize that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.
One woman who was known for her beauty in the 60s decided that she would age gracefully rather than give into Botox. Now that she is 78, she still looks fantastic.
Charlotte Rampling what got her start as being a celebrity unexpectedly. It started slowly but eventually, she would become an icon that was known worldwide for her part on the silver screen.
When Rampling was younger, she attended a girl’s school in France and England but decided to quit school at 16 and go to a secretarial college. In her 17th year, a casting agent spotted her, and she ended up with an unaccredited park in ‘A Hard Day Night.’
Eventually, she would move into bigger roles, including one in 1965, ‘Rotten to the Core’. From there, she would go on to become a model and her beauty, as well as her charm, would cause her to rise to fame.
Her big break came in the 60s when she was in the film, Georgie Girl. According to the trailer, she was a ‘sexy little dish’ but she was so much more than that. Yes, she was pretty but she also was a great actress.
She said: “I knew I had sex appeal. […] I didn’t have to wait for the boys to come to me. I had it. I didn’t have to flaunt it. It’s not for real. You can live out fantasies through film, and that’s what made it so exciting.”
In the 70s, she took on different roles, and collaborated with actors and directors behind the camera as well. She was in Zardoz in 1974 was Sean Connery and with Woody Allen, in Stardust Memories in 1980. She also played with Paul Newman in The Verdict in 1982.
Despite the fact that she was well-known as an actress, it was something that happened behind the scenes that really shaped her. Her older sister, Sarah, was 23 years old when she took her own life. This left Rampling devastated.
“I couldn’t be happy anymore. Your whole life changes.”
Something else noteworthy about this actress was her personal life. She lived with her agent in the 60s, as well as their best friend. This sparked rumors of a menage a trois, although she said it wasn’t true.
She left her first husband in 1976 and married it composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Later, she would find out through the press that he was unfaithful and they were divorced.
Eventually, she found love with Jean-Noël Tassez and spent 20 years with him before he died in 2015 of cancer. After that, she said “Now that [Tassez] has died, I don’t even think about it. It’s an energetic thing, I guess. So when I say I feel in a way a bit timeless, it could be that somebody else comes into my life in the same way.”
In 2021, however, she said: “I have a friend who I see, yes. In France, you can call it ‘amitié amoureuse.’ The French do have ways of talking about love that the rest of the world don’t. ‘Amitié’ is friendship, ‘amoureuse’ is to love, so it’s an in-love friendship.”
As she aged, she admitted that the acting was taking a toll. She called it a ‘huge effort’ and said it took a lot out of her.
After she turned 70, she decided to approach work with a more careful attitude. She said: “My 60s were great. I felt very strong. But in your 70s, you need to go a little slower. I love the age I am now, but for work, when you’ve got to be pinging a lot of the time, it is hard.”
In addition, she wanted to age gracefully, rather than go for cosmetic surgery, as did many of her peers. Speaking of them, she said: “They’ve all gone to the same surgeon, so they’ve got the same faces.”
She chose not to go through with all of the Botox and fillers, saying: “We live in a sexist society, we live in an ageist society. So when we start looking a bit tired and old, we’re put out to grass. I can fight it more because I’m not in the system.
“I choose not to. That’s all I can say. Nobody likes the idea of decaying, but I choose not to have a relationship with all that. And just get on with it. You do the best with what you’ve got.”
In the end, we’re thankful for all that she did. It’s nice to know that she has embraced her beauty and continues to be someone to be looked up to today.
