Andie MacDowell on Embracing Her Natural Gray Curls

The "Four Weddings and a Funeral" actress unexpectedly became an icon when she decided to embrace her naturally graying hair and her age, despite the occasional criticism she has endured.

Andie MacDowell is going against the grain — and she's doing it unapologetically. While the longtime actress never set out to become the figurehead for a generation of women embracing their natural salt-and-pepper tresses, she has accepted it gracefully.

"The response has been wonderful," she told Good Housekeeping this past September. "Mostly, it's so positive." In a world where women are both pressured and ridiculed for "clinging" to their youth, allowing your hair to naturally age with you has become a powerful statement.

Although MacDowell is among the women doing just that, the feedback is not always positive. "Occasionally I'll see someone say something like, 'You look older,'" the 67-year-old shared. "And I just feel so sorry for them, that they feel the need to say that."

"I don't have a problem with it," she continued. "I'm embracing being my age, so I'm not trying to look younger. That's not part of my needs." The "Groundhog Day" star wasn't looking to defy conventional beauty standards.

Going gray was a stage in her life that came naturally, and she wanted to be fully immersed in it. "I mean, we get one shot at life, right? This is it. I don't get another chance. And I wanted to see what it felt like to look my age," she said.

At the same time, she doesn't have anything against dyeing your hair once you start seeing those white strands. MacDowell fully encourages women to do what makes them happy, however that may look.

During a 2023 interview with journalist Katie Couric, she shared how she extends that grace to herself. "Even though I may be portraying this person who is really comfortable in her skin or whatever, I don't know, in 10 years I might change my mind," she said.

She continued, "I can't guarantee you, I don't know. I can't tell you how I'm going to feel. We have a lot of options." MacDowell also shared how her decision to go gray has a deeper meaning connected to her family.

"I kind of felt it because my mother died when she was 53. I was 23. I never got to see her transition but I saw my father transition so I just — I kind of went by him. And George Clooney," she joked. The film star said she stopped coloring her hair during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She had been mulling over the decision after seeing her sister go gray. "My sister's full-on silver and she's only 18 months older than me. I thought she looked so much more beautiful being silver. I was jealous," she joked with People in 2022.

"It made me so much more powerful and so much more comfortable. It made me feel me… I'm not trying to be something that I'm not." she reflected. She never saw it as something that took away her beauty.

Instead, embracing her age has made her more sure of the fact. "I think I'm a beautiful older woman," she declared. "There's something in your eyes when you get older. You don't have it when you're young … It's a soul."