Heidi Klum is rebuffing the ageist attitudes which so often target women in the public eye by vowing to continue sunbathing topless when she is 60-years-old.
The model, who has been photographed partially nude on private visits to the beach by boundary-encroaching paparazzi several times before, says age will not determine how comfortable she feels in her own body.
“I’m probably going to be the girl on the beach with no top on when I’m 60,” the 43-year-old told People magazine. “Maybe my stomach and my boobs are not going to be the same way they are now. But it’s just who I am.
“I am more of a free person. I’m more nudist that way. I’m fearless. I don’t think that will change. I’m gonna be that 60-year-old woman laying on the beach with just my bottoms on,”
Tackling the ageism which pervades the beauty, fashion and entertainment industry, the Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated alum shunned the concept that a woman's body is less worthy or desirable as she grows older.
“With style and clothes and swimsuits or lingerie, it doesn’t change with age. I love fashion and I love showing off my feminine assets. I still feel sexy and I want to look sexy so it doesn’t matter that I’m 43 instead of 25.”
“A body is still beautiful when it gets older,” she says. “You don’t have to hide yourself under a tent just because you don’t have skin like a 20-year-old anymore.”