Kim Cattrall: 'As You Get Older, You Realise That You’re Enough, And All Those Other Clichés'
Could there be a more perfect ambassador for Charlotte Tilbury’s iconic Pillow Talk line than Kim Cattrall? The actress is the embodiment of feeling confident in your own skin, and has played characters who have inspired generations of women to feel more self-assured too. (How many breakups have been spawned by Samantha Jones’s iconic line, 'I love you, but I love me more?')
Now, at 68, Cattrall feels like the best version of herself. She’s relaxed. She’s learned about what she likes. She’s learned what she doesn’t like. And she’s ready to share her knowledge. 'I decided to eliminate what didn’t work for me and embrace and experiment with where I was at whatever stage of my life,' she says. 'As you get older, you realise that you’re enough, and all those other clichés.'
Below, Cattrall spoke with ELLE about how her beauty philosophy has changed over the years, attending Paris Fashion Week, and the one beauty staple she’ll never leave home without...
What’s your beauty philosophy?
It starts with being authentic and knowing what you feel comfortable with. [It’s also important] to have the confidence to try and mix that up.
Has it changed over the years?
Yes. In the ’80s, I did a TV movie called Scruples, and I played this unscrupulous young woman who wanted to be a model. I remember them bringing a real model to the set, and I was in awe of her. She was in her mid-20s, and I was 18 or 19. She was so confident and I wanted to look just like her, but the makeup wasn’t right for me. It was too much. It was, first of all, the ’80s, but she was blonde and I was dark haired, so nothing really matched. But I kept thinking in my mind, That’s what I should look like, that’s who I should look like. Slowly but surely, over the years, I realised that I wasn’t comfortable putting on that mask.
So now your routine feels very authentic to you.
It really does come down to educating yourself and saying, 'I like the way this looks better than this. For me now it’s about less about armouring up with make-up.
Do you have a beauty ritual that makes you feel most like yourself?
Lipstick. My mum wanted to be a model when she was younger. She was gorgeous. She wasn’t tall enough, so she became the woman in the department store who announced all of the models and what they were wearing and the designers that they were wearing. I always loved my mum’s lipsticks, because I could put them on. I thought I looked really glamorous.
And you still love wearing lipstick.
Yes, but I stay within the lines. I love lipstick because it’s kind of very European and French too. I just put a little bit of lipstick on. The rest I just don’t have time for.
Very French. What does confidence mean to you?
It’s about feeling good in your skin. As an actress, most of my life, I played characters who just seemed to be alive with confidence. But that’s pretend, and I think I’m more confident in what I know [now]. That makes me more confident to try different things, because I want to know more.
You have played so many bold characters. Do you have any advice for young women who are trying to find their way?
A lot of women, especially from my generation, felt that to be strong, they had to cut themselves off from their vulnerability. It wasn’t until I was in my late 30s, early 40s, that I realised by being vulnerable how powerful I was, instead of hiding it or blocking it. I’ve had a lot of people in my life influence me to protect myself, but also to stand up for myself.
That’s a hard lesson to learn.
It takes a lifetime, really, because to go out on a limb takes a lot of courage.
Switching gears, I know you were just at Paris Fashion Week. Did you have a favourite look from the runway?
I was invited by Olivier [Rousteing] from Balmain, and he designed this really gorgeous, velvety dress that was very hugging, and this fantastic coat with these shoulder pads. That was really fun. I enjoyed that.
Do you like going to fashion week?
It’s kind of like a sped-up opening night on Broadway or the West End, because there’s all of this build-up. Then it lasts for 15 minutes and you’re thinking, I wanted it to go on longer. It’s a fantastical world that you enter that’s so immediate, and there’s so much pressure going on, but you’re just sitting back enjoying the beauty of it.
What’s your go-to beauty look?
More timeless looks. They’re not overdone, they’re not twisted and turned into some kind of unnatural machination. I like it when I look more [like] myself. I’ll remember how I felt in the dress, or I felt with the hair or the make-up, or whatever issue comes back when I look at a photograph. I’ll remember I was a size too small, or oh those shoes were killing me, or the human things that are attached to the memory of a photograph. Most of the looks that I like, I felt connected to.
What’s your wellness routine?
I decided that working out every day was too taxing. It was just too much, not just scheduling-wise, but I was so tired. I decided to lighten up, to start swimming, to really get more involved with my yoga and breathing and stretching. When I don’t do it, I don’t get anxious about it. I just think I’ve got to do it tomorrow, because I feel better. My generation is the workout generation. I went to Jane Fonda’s. She was my exercise guru. It was about feeling the burn, and now it’s just about keeping in shape and just also emotionally feeling better.
What does self-care mean to you?
It means everything. You spend so many years doing what you love, and then you look around at some point, usually when you’ve lost somebody. You think to yourself, I want to be smarter about my time and who I spend it with, and how I spend it, and the set that I want to be on, and how to make a place for myself to be creative, but also to flex my muscles to keep learning. That’s always been my saving grace, is that I’ve been curious about things that I know nothing of, and invite people to come in and explain them to me.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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