Closer
Magazine - October 26th, 2002
TWIGGY:
'I always wanted a proper bosom
She was the
ultimate ‘60s icon. Now she’s back on the catwalk despite insecurities
about her looks.
As a 16 year old schoolgirl, Lesley Hornby was discovered outside a hairdresser’s and catapulted to worldwide modelling fame as Twiggy, The Face Of ’66.
Four decades later, she strolled down the catwalk for an Italian design house in Milan last month.
“I only modelled for four years and I was photographic, not a catwalk model. That’s why I was so nervous in Milan – it was my first time on the catwalk. I thought, ‘What on earth am I doing here, and at my age?’
“When I agreed to do it, I panicked and rang my agent and said, ‘They’re not going to put me in a see-through plastic thing are they?’
“The other models were so beautiful. They all looked, like young antelopes – six foot and all legs. Next to them I felt fat and so tiny, but I loved it.”
It is hard to imagine Twiggy, who stands at 5ft 6, ever feeling fat. In the late ‘60s she weighed just 6st 7lb. Forty years later and she is a mere 20 pounds heavier. But despite this, and the fact that she is still lauded as one of the most beautiful women in the world, Twiggy, 53, is not perfectly happy with her appearance.
“I’ve always been insecure about my looks,” she reveals. “Before I got discovered, I was just a stick. I didn’t know I was going to become a new look. I actually looked like a little boy. I desperately wanted a proper bosom and to be shapely. But whatever you are at that age, you always want to be different: fatter, thinner, blonder, darker.
“I’ve always had a thing about my legs – below the knee they are very, very skinny. I’ve also had a thing about my tummy since having children. It’s not particularly fat, it’s just there. But now I’m older, I don’t spend so much time thinking about it, and sit-ups help. Overall I know I’m pretty lucky.”
But this doesn’t mean that Twiggy is one of those infuriatingly lucky women who can eat whatever she likes and never has to exercise.
“I do look after myself. I’m very careful about what I eat – lots of organic fruit and veg. I don’t diet – I never have. I don’t believe they work. Most things in moderation are fine. When I was young, I just ate rubbish.
My favourite meal was egg and chips. I still eat crap sometimes, but I can’t have fry ups all the time and pizza every night. I love chocolate. But when I was 17 I’d eat a whole bar; now it will just be a couple of chunks. I don’t think I’d get huge, but I’d get bloated and sluggish. It just isn’t healthy.
“I
also exercise. When I’m at home and not working, I do Pilates and go to the
gym. I take tap-dancing lessons, too – it’s good for the body and the
brain because it’s quite mathematical getting the steps right.”
If the sensible eating and exercise starts to fail, Twiggy says she doesn’t like the idea of plastic surgery. “I haven’t considered it yet,” she laughs. “I’m not saying I never would. But I have a terrible fear of operations.
“One thing I wouldn’t have is Botox. It’s terrifying. Firstly I don’t think it always looks great. Some women get addicted to it and go too far – their faces just don’t move at all. Secondly, they don’t know what the long term effects are yet. Where does the Botox go? They say it disappears, but how? It goes into your body and into your bloodstream – it’s a position.
“People always ask me if I worry about getting older,” Twiggy continues. “It’s such a stupid question. Why worry about it? There’s nothing you can do about it? I certainly wouldn’t want to be 16 again. I didn’t feel completely happy and in control until I was in my 40s. You just decide that you are no longer going to suffer fools gladly. It’s a nice feeling to take control of your life.
“I’m also very, very happy in my personal life. I’ve got a great husband and my kids, touch wood, are in very good shape at the moment.” Twiggy met her second husband, British actor Leigh Lawson at a dinner party 17 years ago, “We are very lucky. We met at a very good age go both of us – I was 35 and he was 42. We’ve just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Leigh and I get on great. We love being together and we work well together.”
The couple, who live in London and also have a country retreat, have raised their two children from previous marriages. There is her daughter Carly, now 23 and an animator living in London, from her first marriage to actor Michael Whitney, and Leigh’s son Ace, who at 26 is an actor. Twiggy shines with love and pride when she talks about them.
“The most
important thing is that they are both healthy and happy”, she declares,
“which, as a mum, is all you care about. It’s really hard for young people
these days. We help the kids as much as we can, but they’ve got to learn to
stand on their own two feet. The great thing is that they are both pursuing
careers that they are passionate about.”
Twiggy may have found an idyllic home life, but she has had her fair share of
hard times over the years. He mother, who died two years ago, suffered from
severe bouts of depression. “I don’t think it’s an hereditary thing. My
sisters and I aren’t like that – in fact, we’re the opposite.”
And when Carly was five, Twiggy’s first husband Michael, an alcoholic from
who she had recently separated, died of a heart attack. “The sad thing is
that I couldn’t do anything about him dying – he did it to himself.”
Twiggy threw herself into her work – at the time, she was starring in the
hit Broadway musical My One And Only. “In the end, I had a little
girl to raise – I was the sole breadwinner.”
Twiggy says her work is of utmost importance to her. Over the last two years,
she’s had her own chat show, interviewing stars like Dustin Hoffman and
Lauren Bacall. A less happy time was her stint of ITV’s This Morning,
which ended acrimoniously with Twiggy leaving the show after six weeks.
She will only say, “Let’s just say it was an interesting time.”
She has since been busy with lots of acting projects and has just come back from a summer in New York, where she starred in a production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. Twiggy is now working on an idea for her own glamorous clothing line.
“I
absolutely love sewing,” she says. “It’s my hobby. If I never get hired
as an actress again, I could always make clothes professionally. I find it so
therapeutic.”
But in the end, it is her family that provides Twiggy’s true source of
happiness. “I like being at home, where I am a wife and mother. My favourite
thing in the world is what we did last night – having the kids over and
enjoying a family meal. And tonight, Leigh’s doing the cooking – chicken
stir fry.”
So is there anything in her life that Twiggy looks back on and wishes she’d
done differently? “No,” she exclaims in surprise. “I’ve been very
lucky. I think I’ve had an amazing life.
Text: Twiggy Lawson with Emma Messenger - Photographs: Brian Aris
