These days, it doesn’t take ten thousand dollars to get Linda Evangelista out of bed. The epic supermodel is simply enjoying the “pre-pre-grandmother” stage of her life, she tells GRAZIA USA, as she prepares to take the stage for a panel during Shiseido’s “Potential Has No Age” Women’s Summit in New York City.
“I’m going to enjoy this moment,” says the 59-year-old beauty. “My dream at this point is to be a grandmother. I want to live long enough to make that happen. If I’m being honest, I’m on horrible cancer meds that make my life miserable and make my body miserable, but I’m grateful to be alive. Having cancer twice puts everything into perspective and puts you in a happier place, it makes you realize how precious everything is.”
In fact, Evangelista looks as gorgeous IRL as she did during the Glamazon ‘90s, despite having battled two bouts of breast cancer and overcoming a very public lawsuit about a cosmetic body sculpting procedure gone wrong. Today, she is embracing her journey and is happy in her own skin. “What’s higher than accepting? I’m worshipping getting older,” she says with a smile.
As a voice of authenticity, Evangelista discussed the importance of avoiding the negative chatter surrounding physical beauty on social media and how vitally important it is for women to hold each other up, rather than tearing each other down at the Women’s Summit.
Plus, a good skincare regimen can go a long way in helping to maintain confidence. “I’ve always loved having a skincare routine,” the model says, “It’s like my time alone at night. But sometimes it’s too long and sometimes I skip it, but I like having a routine.” To pare down, she recommends using products with science behind them. “I believe in research and development.”
Currently, she’s into Shiseido’s new Vital Perfection Concentrated Supreme Cream, which boasts a proprietary mega-firming complex powered by burnet extract plus caffeine to energize skin and squalane and Vitamin E to boost the skin barrier.
In an exclusive interview, the wise beauty expounds on everything from her favorite skincare rituals to going gray and the one campaign she wishes she had done.
GRAZIA: Do you use more skincare products in your routine now than you did when you were younger?
LINDA EVANGELISTA: No, I’m probably using less because I was getting tired of all the steps, and letting them dry to put the next step on. I think there are great products out there now that are multitasking.
GRAZIA: Who’s your beauty icon right now?
EVANGELISTA: I have so many! I just did this incredible job, I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it, but there were 50 other models in the picture of various ages. Some, much older than me and some of them were babies. But some of the ones around my age and older, I mean, I look at them and I’m like, ‘Why do I not embrace gray hair? Look how beautiful they look!’ Coloring your hair is a choice. And I don’t know why I color my hair. I just feel better, right?
GRAZIA: Well, right now. Maybe you’ll decide to go gray at some point.
EVANGELISTA: I don’t think all my grays are on top of my head. They’re not at my temples. So I don’t get that lightness around the face. I don’t know, it’s a personal thing, but I was looking at some of them and going, holy f*ck, they’re gorgeous. Why can’t I go there? And I haven’t decided why I can’t but I choose to color my hair, and I’m ok with that.
GRAZIA: How about other things that are supposed to make one look younger?
EVANGELISTA: I support all of it. I support the right to choose. I like to dabble. I dabble in Botox but I don’t do filler. I got all my filler dissolved two years ago. I was the first celebrity to say I got Botox. We weren’t being transparent yet. It was after my Vogue cover in 2000.
GRAZIA: Are you doing any of the newfangled anti-aging treatments like NAD+ injections?
EVANGELISTA: I do a little bit of everything. We owe it to ourselves to be healthy and taking care of ourselves translates into looking good. I hate it when people say they just drink water and, like, eat avocados.
GRAZIA: What was your favorite modeling moment or picture you’ve ever taken?
EVANGELISTA: There’s a picture from a 1989 Vogue that Steven Meisel took. I call her Cuba girl — it was sexy and naughty, we were in Miami and my boyfriend was Cuban and I’m drinking a beer and I was so tan. I haven’t gone in the sun since I was in my thirties. Well now I can with the Shiseido sunscreen, it’s so good.
GRAZIA: Is there a campaign or a shoot you wish you’d done? Or a photographer you’d love to work with?
EVANGELISTA: I would’ve liked to have worked with Helmut Newton and I turned it down. I was a fool! I didn’t see myself that way. I’m an idiot. Me. Who likes to escape. I always think… people love to escape from their job, but I use my job to escape from my real life. And I love all those characters. I was a fool for saying it, I said no. But he did take a picture of me backstage that ended up in Vogue. So I don’t know if that counts.
