Try GOLD - Free

FOREVER YOUNG

The Independent

|

June 04, 2025

Campaigner Katie Piper says women must come to terms with ageing out of the male gaze’. But, argues Helen Coffey, that’s difficult when celebrities point-blank refuse to get old

- Helen Coffey

FOREVER YOUNG

"Age is just a number", goes the old adage. The new version should perhaps come with an addendum: "Age is just a number but one that your face and body should never reflect."

It was the recent words of presenter and activist Katie Piper that prompted this musing on our collective endeavour to erase the visible passage of time. “Ageing can be compared to a bereavement,” the Loose Women panellist said at this year’s Hay Festival while promoting her new book, Still Beautiful: On Age, Beauty and Owning Your Space. “Sometimes we know we’re losing somebody or something, and it’s slow, it’s gradual – and when it’s ageing, we look down at our hands, we see they look different. We catch ourselves in the shop window, and everything’s changed.”

The 41-year-old’s sentiments hit a nerve. I’m 38, a mere slip of a girl, surely, and yet I’ve already started having those out-of-body experiences – suddenly seeing a photo of myself taken from an unexpected angle and thinking, “Who’s she? That middle-aged woman with the chins and the deeply etched eye bags?” Or catching a glimpse in the mirror, brought up short by the marching silver threads that can never be beaten back, no matter how often I dye my hair, because there’s always more, more, more – a never-ending onslaught of grey to remind me that I’m getting older by the day.

Piper, who has had to endure multiple surgeries to repair her face and eyesight ever since she was the victim of an acid attack orchestrated by an ex-boyfriend in 2008, has a very different relationship with her appearance compared to most of us. “Women age out of the male gaze,” she said frankly. “I was ripped from the male gaze at 24. I didn’t just become invisible. I became a target for people saying derogatory things.”

image

MORE STORIES FROM The Independent

The Independent

The Independent

Scotland withstand Greek attacks in epic comeback

Lewis Ferguson netted his first Scotland goal as Steve Clarke's side came from behind to beat Greece 3-1 and maintain their promising start to their World Cup qualifying campaign.

time to read

2 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

Macron on 'last chance' as he clears way for latest PM

French president Emmanuel Macron is set to name his sixth prime minister in less than two years, hoping the new appointment can navigate a budget through a deeply divided legislature.

time to read

2 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

The shocking truth about the 'ordinary' killer Nazi

In an infamous picture from the Second World War, an SS soldier blithely prepares to shoot a Jewish prisoner. The murderer's identity has finally been revealed and shows what can happen when we lose our humanity, writes Guy Walters

time to read

6 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

'I always knew that she wasn't my sister Madeleine'

Amelie McCann gives evidence in trial of alleged stalker

time to read

3 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

SOUND AND VISION

Peter Doig's House of Music exhibition at the Serpentine South Gallery combines the world's most influential painter's twin passions of art and music, writes Mark Hudson

time to read

3 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

'Finally, a good morning'

Joy was widespread in both Gaza and Israel as Trump's deal was agreed - but caution around the fragile peace remains

time to read

3 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

Former civil servants find PM's China take 'puzzling'

Ex-national security adviser says superpower always a theat

time to read

2 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

Benefit loans trap 500,000 children in cycle of poverty

Families borrow cash as they wait weeks for first payment

time to read

3 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

Israel and Hamas take their first step towards peace

Aid set to surge into Gaza as remaining hostages are released

time to read

4 mins

October 10, 2025

The Independent

The Independent

China sees UK concessions as weakness, not diplomacy

The government's failure to act against alleged Beijing spies shows a worrying lack of spine, writes Mark L Clifford

time to read

5 mins

October 10, 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size