Introduction to Grateful Aging
Lincolnshire-born singer Nicola Roberts has just turned 40 and during her birthday party her friends asked how she was feeling. She didn’t hesitate: “I have friends who didn’t make it to 40. So it’s a privilege to get older. We should be grateful for getting older because it means we live a little bit longer, and that’s critically important.”
Embracing Freedom at Any Age
“Freedom exists at any age if you truly accept and love who you are,” she says. This feeling of acceptance runs through everything she says and her new approach to wellness. Roberts speaks as she embarks on a new chapter, recently announced as the face of a new Age Renewal range. The collaboration feels fitting: The line promotes what it calls "grateful aging," a saying Roberts lives by after her friend and bandmate passed away in 2021.
Losing a Friend and Gaining Perspective
Losing her friend, Roberts says, put a lot of things into perspective. It made her rethink the relentless pursuit of improvement that had long characterized both her industry and her own habits. “I have become gentler with myself,” she says. “I don’t want to assert my skin anymore. When I look in the mirror in the morning, I think: This is okay. I’m not tearing myself apart.”
Partnership and Mindful Self-Care
The partnership comes at a time when the message that you shouldn’t punish your skin makes sense to them. "I still want skincare that makes a difference," she says, "but it also needs to reflect how I live. We don’t use toxic products at home; I don’t use scented body washes. So it’s about finding that balance – products that are effective but also fit into a more mindful way of self-care.”
Diet and Its Impact on Skin
Roberts also shares how much of an impact the diet has had on her skin, noticing that the visible effects of her diet become more noticeable as she gets older. "Diet is massive for me," she says, "if I eat a lot of sugar, my skin texture changes. Even my makeup applies differently. So it’s all about balance. I know if I treat myself to pizza and cake, I’ll have a breakthrough next week.”
Simplified Routine and Confidence
She laughs when she talks about her simplified routine. “I just don’t think my skin can handle that much information anymore,” she says. “I used to think that if it didn’t tingle it wasn’t helping, but sometimes the skin just needs rest.” This gentler approach also makes her feel more confident, as she notes, "Most days I prefer how I look without makeup. I just like feeling comfortable.”
A Hard-Won Relationship with Beauty
Roberts’ measured relationship with beauty is hard-won. In her twenties, she became known as "Pale" – an identity that was constantly questioned in a time when tanning was practically mandatory. “I definitely spent my time being addicted to tanning and feeling like I had to be tanned to fit in,” she recalls. Eventually, she realized that the constant urge to get a tan was unhealthy.
Realization and Advocacy
"I got to a point where I realized I couldn’t tan – I’d just burn – and I realized how unhealthy my perception of beauty around tanning was," she says. “At some point I realized that I looked much better with my own skin tone.” This realization led her to make a documentary about tanning addiction and skin cancer, and she was part of a campaign that helped change the law to ban under-18s from using tanning beds.
Questioning Normal Beauty Standards
This instinct to question what is considered “normal” beauty has only increased with age. "You just have to have a responsible conversation with yourself," she says, "What’s important to me? How far am I going with this? And that’s a conversation you should have with yourself, not one that’s dictated by peer pressure or social noise." "If you don’t have self-love and try to fill that void with connection or attention, you will continue to make decisions that don’t serve your true purpose," she explains thoughtfully.
Self-Love and Boundaries
"Once you fill that hole with self-respect and love, you don’t reach for other things to fill it – you can create boundaries and say no easily." Therapy, she says, helped her get there. “How you look is a relationship with yourself – and the encouragement and love you receive from the people around you […] A therapist can help you reframe things, but self-love is really the root of it all.”
Embracing Age and Comfort
And so, as she turns 40, Roberts isn’t trying to reinvent herself, but simply to feel more comfortable in her own skin. "As you get older, it’s natural and really nice to get to a point where you don’t care," she says, "you’re like, this is it, this is who I am, take it or leave it."
