I am becoming invisible like so many middle aged women, reveals Kristin: Actress says she has also thought about having cosmetic surgery

  • Kristin Scott Thomas admits she would consider having cosmetic surgery
  • She said she felt 'invisible' when surrounded by young actresses
  • She said people 'just don't notice' women of a certain age

By Laura Cox for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

She is a classically beautiful award-winning actress who starred in some of the biggest British films of the Nineties.

But Kristin Scott Thomas fears she will ‘just disappear’ now that she has reached middle age.

And she admits she would consider having cosmetic surgery because she feels like an ‘old ragbag’ next to her younger co-stars.

Kristin Scott Thomas fears she will 'just disappear' now that she has reached middle age
Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling at the 'Only God Forgives' film screening in New York

Kristin Scott Thomas (left) fears she will 'just disappear' now that she has reached middle age. The actress is pictured (right) with Ryan Gosling who she stars alongside in her most recent film Only God Forgives

Miss Scott Thomas, 53, has revealed that she felt ‘invisible’ while surrounded by young actresses at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Voicing the fears of so many women of a certain age, she said: ‘I’m not talking about in a private setting, at a dinner party or anything. But when you’re walking down the street, you get bumped into, people slam doors in your face – they just don’t notice you.

‘Somehow, you just vanish. It’s a cliché, but men grow in gravitas as they get older, while women just disappear.’ And echoing Miranda actress Patricia Hodge, who last year said that all the best roles go to a small group of actresses, she added: ‘The Great British Dames, like Helen Mirren and Judi Dench, have all managed to do things marvellously.

'Mum's not in at the moment - oh, hang on, I've just seen her opposite me'

‘They go in, swoop up all the attention, and then swoop out again. I could handle that, quite happily.’

Miss Scott Thomas, best known for The English Patient, for which she was Oscar-nominated, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, was at Cannes for the premiere of her most recent film, Only God Forgives.

The film, which also stars Ryan Gosling, tells the story of a drug smuggler in Bangkok whose brother is murdered.

Miss Scott Thomas, who has never remarried after divorcing her husband of 17 years, French obstetrician François Olivennes, in 2008, plays Crystal, the drug smuggler’s foul-mouthed mother.

She joked that she will probably be single for life because ‘all the men will run for the hills’ when they see it.

The actress told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘It’s incredibly difficult keeping relationships alive when you have a lifestyle like mine. I’m never more than a few weeks in one place.’

Miss Scott Thomas, whose children are Hannah, 24, Joseph, 21 and George, 13, admitted that her personal life often suffers because of her career. She said she uses work as ‘an escapism thing’ when things get difficult at home and is enjoying the fact that her children can look after themselves.

She said: ‘If I’ve signed on to do something, then I have to do it properly. So I have to switch off the personal life. I can just about squeeze in a phone call at lunchtime, but anything else I just can’t deal with.

‘So it’s a bit of an escapism thing, actually. Things complicated at home? Get a job! Go off somewhere else and pretend I’m someone else.’

Kristin Scott Thomas as Margit in the 2011 film The Woman in the Fifth

Kristin Scott Thomas as Margit in the 2011 film The Woman in the Fifth

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