'Attitudes To Age Have Changed - For The Better!'

Actress and model Isabella Rossellini talks about being rehired by Lancôme in her sixties, the new rules of ageing – and why she’s saying no to Botox

The daughter of the late Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, Isabella, 65, began her career as a model, becoming the first ever face of Lancôme in 1983, a role she held for 15 years while juggling a successful acting career and starring in films including Blue Velvet, Death Becomes Her and Wild at Heart. At the age of 42, Isabella was dropped by Lancôme for being “too old”, but more than 20 years on, she’s been rehired – proving that age really is just a number. Isabella is single and has two grown-up children.

When I was young, I didn’t want to become an actress because I was afraid of the comparison with my family, but modelling was my own world.

When I started out, “the girls” were anonymous – even in the Lancôme ads, my name wasn’t mentioned. And I was happy about that because it gave me a feeling of greater independence; I wasn’t hired for my family pedigree.

I was very sad when Lancôme let me go.

I was told they needed someone younger and I didn’t understand it. Other people would say how happy they were to see a woman who had aged from the age of 28 and who was still there in her forties. Lancôme weren’t the only ones to let me go though – Vogue let me go, designers let me go. It was a tough time in my life.

Receiving a phone call at the age of 63 saying “We’d like you to come back” was a shock.