Why Ageing Is The Making Of Us

When Susanna Reid shared a throwback photo, she was unrecognisable

- Mishaal Khan, Tanith Carey

For decades, we’ve been told that, while men get better with age, a woman’s beauty will simply start to fade. Of course, we know that’s not true – but ooft, it’s a hard message to forget! Until that is, you see the photo Susanna Reid has shared of her first news broadcast 20 years ago. Compared with an image of the 49-year old now, if we didn’t know better we’d say there was a very real chance the presenter is aging backward. But while it would be easy to blame the ‘Playmobil hair’ and the boxy jacket (so 90s!), it’s far more than aesthetics that make Susanna look so incredible now. She’s markedly more confident and self-assured – things that really do only come with age. And she’s not the only one proving that youth isn’t something we should all be clinging to. Tanith Carey explains how getting older has been the making of her...

‘IT’S A LIE WE’RE SOLD THAT WE’RE ONLY ATTRACTIVE IN OUR YOUTH’

Tanith Carey, 52, is an author and journalist who lives in north London with her husband and two daughters, aged 18 and 14.