Dame Kristin Scott Thomas has admitted she’s considered getting a facelift.
The actress, 66, has been in the industry for four decades and has witnessed how Hollywood treats women of a certain age – and the expectation to remain looking youthful.
When asked if she felt the pressure herself, Kristin mused: ‘I suppose the question is to facelift or not to facelift. But I remember talking to a younger woman about this in New York who said that if I had one, I’d never look the same again. You just look expensive. And I thought – she has a point.
Describing a facelift as ‘a kind of status symbol to display your wealth’, she went on: ‘But I’m quite conflicted about it, because it’s always slightly diminishing when someone says, “That woman hasn’t taken care of herself.” Deep down we do care about these things.
‘Sometimes you see women who are 70 and they look fantastic. And it’s clear they’ve had a brow-lift perhaps. What’s dangerous is when all the things that people think are little things build up.’
Dame Kristin was then asked what procedures she’d had done herself.
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, 66, has revealed she’s ‘conflicted’ about having a facelift as she opened up about the cosmetic work she’s had done oever the years
The actress has been in the industry for four decades and has witnessed how Hollywood treats women of a certain age – and the expectation to remain looking youthful (pictured in 1997)
Candid about her treatments, Dame Kristin told The Telegraph that she’d only opted for ‘non-invasive’ work such as laser or a buccal massage – essentially a deep tissue massage inside the mouth.
Yet while she admitted to being conflicted as to how far she’d take her quest to look younger, she praised the fact there are currently ‘more interesting roles for grown-up women than there were before’.
That being said, earlier in the year Dame Kristin hit out at male critics for ‘failing to understand plays written by and about women’.
The actress spoke about poorly-reviewed plays she had starred in written for the female gaze, which were lost on the male critics who came to see them.
She acknowledged her part in Penelope Skinner’s Lyonesse, which ran at the Harold Pinter theatre in 2023, exploring ambition, motherhood and sexual violence.
Accepting the inaugural Leading Light award at the Women’s prize for playwriting ceremony in February, she said: ‘Where would I be without women playwrights? ‘To be honest, absolutely nowhere.’
She said: ‘The play [Lyonesse] was mostly hated by the critics. So why did people flock to the Pinter to catch it before we all vanished? A clue might be that many of the reviews were written by men who really didn’t understand what it is to be a working mother or a child-free actress.’
The plot followed Elaine (Kristin), a formerly famous actress who attracts the attention of Kate (Lily James), a film executive who wants to hear her Me Too story.
Earlier this year Dame Kristin hit out at male critics for ‘failing to understand plays written by and about women’ (pictured with Lily James n Penelope Skinner’s Lyonesse)
Dame Kristin detailed the importance of female stories which are told on their own terms, as she cited her menstruation monologue in Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag.
The British star also touched on how her words ‘ripped through the internet’ because women related so strongly to what she was saying.
‘When Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote Fleabag series two, she gave me the most fantastic scene about menstruation and metaphors, which ripped through the internet and helped bring what people used to call female problems right into the front row, and even get laws changed.’
The Women’s prize was launched in a bid to address gender inequality in theatre and was founded in 2019, with organisers claiming women are under-represented as playwrights.
It is believed that around three-quarters of writers working in UK theatre are men, according to research published by The Stage in 2022.