Monica Bellucci is embracing 62 with zero interest in rewinding the clock.
The Italian actress, who celebrated her birthday Wednesday, laid out her philosophy on aging in Harper’s Bazaar Spain’s October cover story. “There’s no real alternative: either you grow old and accept the process with dignity, or you die,” Bellucci said. “Looking at it that way, I’d much rather grow old,” she added with a laugh.
Her latest role gave her fresh material to mine. In “The Birthday Party” (original title: “Histoires de la nuit”), which screened in competition at Cannes in May, Bellucci plays Cristina, a reclusive painter haunted by the fear that women “become transparent” past a certain age. The actress, 62, flatly rejects that premise in her own life.
“I could never have played this role when I was 30 or 40, not even with layers of makeup to age myself,” she said. “To give substance, weight, and truth to a character with that level of inner turmoil, you have to have lived.”
That lived experience now includes two decades of motherhood. Bellucci shares daughters Léonie, 16, and Deva, 22, with ex-husband Vincent Cassel. For the magazine’s dual covers, photographed by Rocío Ramos, she wore lipstick-red Valentino and slinky Dolce & Gabbana, accessorized throughout with diamonds and emeralds from Cartier, the Parisian jeweler she has long represented.
“Growing old means you’re fortunate enough to still be alive and have a future,” Bellucci reflected. “Besides, maturity brings with it a wonderful gift: detachment.”
The detachment she describes extends to how she defines beauty now. Feeling beautiful today, she explained, “is about having a rich inner life, a passion that inspires you, watching your children grow, gazing at the sea, having friends, a family you love … a fulfilling life as a woman.”
Her romantic life has undergone its own transformations. A year after her split from director Tim Burton, Bellucci named love as her greatest luxury. “Life is a perpetual transformation,” she said.
That evolution has only deepened her sense of self. “That said, I’m proud of myself and of being a woman,” Bellucci continued, “because femininity is the strength of humanity.”
