Top 60 Marie Helvin Quotes

My livelihood depends on my surface beauty, but when I wash my face, I see a real person there.

I love fashion, but I don’t really do shopping.

I don’t have any children, but I can leave my land to an animal sanctuary. That is what I dream about, not bags, not shoes.

The only thing I can’t change is the elasticity of my skin.

I lost count of how many times photographers and designers would tell me to lose a bit of weight, especially as I got a little older and my body started to develop.

I’m not a pretty-boy kind of a girl; the Brad Pitts don’t do anything for me.

The fact is, after a certain age, high heels can feel as painful as someone sticking hot pins into the soles of your feet.

I was brought up by parents who embraced the 1960s and taught me that being faithful isn’t the be-all and end-all.

There are lots of things I would love to wear but wouldn’t because I know they look stupid on me.

My life has been charmed in the sense that I’ve met some extraordinary people. But at the end of the day, when you go home and you go to bed, and if you’re on your own, you never think of yourself in that way. I’m sure not even people like Angelina Jolie think like that.

Surgery is not going to improve your skin – all it’s going to do is make you look tighter, like Joan Rivers!

I don’t wear mini-skirts or shorts because I have thread veins on my legs and cellulite, and I won’t wear tights.

But I’d made up my mind early on in life that I never wanted to be a mother.

I was addicted to ‘The Monkees’ TV programme – not so much because of the music but because of the commercials in between. The programme was sponsored by Yardley, and in the commercial breaks, there would be these English girls on roller skates, wearing hot pants, and I just thought, ‘God! How neat!’

Even in the early Eighties, when I was one of the most successful models in Britain, I didn’t really have a voice. Time after time, when I should have spoken up, I simply walked away.

I don’t do a lot of looking back; I tend to look ahead.

My fashion icons are Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner. Their classic looks and clean lines should be the cornerstones of your wardrobe – white cotton shirts, black Capri pants, pencil skirts and ballerina skirts.

I had a very spoilt childhood. Not that my family were incredibly wealthy, but we lived on the beautiful island of Hawaii where everything was lush and in abundance.

As a girl, I lived in jeans, and my love-affair with them continues. Since I turned 50, jeans have become something of a uniform, whether it’s a slouchy boyfriend fit for daytime or a leaner, fitted jean in a darker denim for evening.

I’m well trained. The only reason I am this slim is that I have to fit into the clothes. The samples are size 8, and I am naturally a size 10 to 12. I have been on a diet for my entire life.

My marriage to David Bailey ended one morning in 1983, while he was away on a photo-shoot.

I like naughty boys. I was married to David Bailey, who was one of the naughtiest. I like real men, and I like masculinity.

Most English people are horrified that I use soap, but I like it – it works for my skin. I try different soaps all the time, but I use very mild ones.

I loved Le Taha’a private resort in Tahiti. It’s accessible only by private boat or helicopter, and it sits on a tiny strip of land just big enough for one hotel. It’s extraordinary and faces the Vanilla Island where Tahitians grow vanilla.

I genuinely have to work – I don’t have enough money not to. But the last thing I would want is to be looked after.

I’m interested only in buying land in my native Hawaii so that one day I can live there and have the space to rescue animals.

I am a vegetarian. I don’t want to have anything injected into me that I can’t eat. I am a real health nut. I look after myself well.

For me, my 50s was the decade when my tolerance for heels faded. I’m in good shape and, at 8 st. 3 lb., I’m still the same weight I was in my 30s, but as you get older, the weight of your body shifts somehow.

I grew up in neighbouring Hawaii, where Tahiti is regarded as a brother.

I wasn’t interested in having children of my own. I know what would have happened – I’d have been left at home to look after the kids, and my career would have been over while my husband travelled the world.

I’m known for my big hair and curls.

When you’ve been touched by sadness and grief, it makes you vulnerable. And because I am vulnerable, I try to be positive. And when I say ‘try,’ I really do mean try, because it’s an effort.

I think a mother needs to be with mothers. I don’t know what they talk about.

If I’m on holiday, I travel light, but if it is a work trip, I take everything but the kitchen sink.

I don’t see myself as the next Carmen Dell’Orefice. I’d rather be fat and happy, sitting on a beach in Hawaii eating pizza.

My sister Naomi and I always wanted to go to Tahiti. We planned a fantastic holiday to visit several islands, but at the last moment, Naomi cancelled. It was the first time I’d holidayed alone, and it was absolutely the best.

I am thrilled to be modelling the debut collection of Always Aliza. Janet Reger was such an iconic brand throughout my modelling career, and it feels great to now be modelling her daughter’s range for JD Williams almost forty years on.

The two times I have cut my hair shorter, I’ve ended up out of work – so short hair is not an option.

If I’m not in work, I don’t wear any make-up.

I wouldn’t mind being in a relationship, but there’s no reason to marry.

I definitely think men prefer women more undone and natural than butch and masculine. They prefer a fresher, sexier, more feminine look.

Monogamy is not something that’s important to me. I don’t think it defines love.

I hate Botox, but a fabulous-looking friend of mine told me her secret was this gadget that uses electrical impulses to tone your facial muscles. It works!

I try to be as positive as I can because I truly believe I am my feelings, and if I’m sad, if I have regrets, they will show up as illnesses, they will show up as cancers… I don’t want that.

I’m slim for professional reasons, and I work at it. I really want to continue working. There aren’t that many models who are still doing it at 60.

We don’t do funerals in my family.

For modern fashion designers, bones are beautiful. I don’t know why, but so many people are obsessed with the skeletal look.

When I began modelling in my late teens, I started to earn a lot of money very, very quickly, but I’d never been shown how to manage it properly.

Myself and my two younger sisters and brother were paid for any chores, whether it was washing pop’s car, sweeping the lawn or picking mangoes.

People were endlessly trying to set me up with ‘eligible’ men, and I enjoyed going on a galaxy of dates.

My favourite scent… changes every day. I have a cupboard full – so many I can’t begin to tell you.

I lost all my investments after everything crashed in 2001. Prior to that, I’d been living off the interest on my investments, which was very healthy because it allowed frequent travel, and I had a lovely apartment.

We are constantly driven to believe that women should look a set age or be a certain body size, which is fuelling an obsession with ever more dramatic and invasive steps.

For most of us, no matter how slim, middle-aged spread really does set in, and your waist thickens, irrespective of whether you’ve had children or if you exercise regularly.

When I see images of a girl who is obviously far too thin, I am just as shocked as anyone else.

As the years go by, you get to know yourself better and learn what works for you.

Cheating is never to do with how attractive you are.

To be honest, the reason I have my cats is to force myself to think about something other than myself.

I go to the gym four times a week for 45 minutes to an hour without fail; I like using weights for muscle tone and the bike and rower for my heart rate. I do quite a lot of floor exercises.

I always wear the same thing: a tight white shirt – I have about 50 – and tight black trousers.