Some would say Jane Seymour has done it all. At 75, the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress, author and entrepreneur has a long list of accolades, including being a Bond girl, starring in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Dancing With the Stars and Wedding Crashers, and is now celebrating her fifth season of Harry Wild.
Having been a Body Firm spokeswoman for over a decade, the newly engaged actress sat down with us to share her beauty, fitness and career secrets, as well as the inside scoop on reuniting with her Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman costar Joe Lando for the fifth season of Harry Wild, which debuts June 22.
You've often spoke about embracing aging rather than fighting it. What does aging mean to you today?
“Well, first of all, I’m incredibly grateful to be here at 75. There are a lot of my friends who didn't make it past 65. I think it’s health, happiness, feeling comfortable in my skin and feeling like I'm really part of today's world. I'm working, I'm creating every day and I feel I'm actually in my prime when it comes to my creativity—I have an enormous amount of energy. I think that aging is actually a privilege, and it's a very joyful time because you are free to be anything you want to be. There are no rules!”
How do you sustain your enormous amount of energy?
“Well, honestly, I'm told on film sets that I outrun and outpace all the young ones. I think it's because I love what I do, and I eat really well. I have always eaten a Mediterranean diet—I love berries, kale and spinach and all those kinds of things—and if I can't get them, I use the Youthful Essence Antioxidant Wellness-Beauty Blend ($180) from Body Firm. That makes life so simple for me. I just put one scoop in water, spin it around and chug it down. When I'm on set, we all have it. We do Body Firm shots. And the byproduct of this, apart from making you healthier, is that it makes my skin glow and my hair grow better, and it puts a spring in my step.”
Have you been a loyal skin-care user your whole life?
“Yes, my mother was a stickler for skin care. She actually started her own brand, or tried to, just before the war. It was called Miss Lavender. So growing up, she always told me about this. Her dream was to go and work with Elizabeth Arden.
I also do my own facials. When I go to a facialist, if I do, they say, ‘Do you have facials often?’ I say no. I tell them that I just stick to my skin-care routine and my SPF. I also exfoliate gently, where I’m not tearing my skin and causing trauma. Less is more, less is more.”
What are the skin-care staples in your routine right now?
“I love Body Firm’s new Crépe Erase Body Resurfacing Serum ($84). It's an exfoliating serum, so it exfoliates the dead skin cells, and then I layer the best-selling Crépe Erase Body Repair Treatment ($84) on top. This is the cream that my friends and people I know say they want to ‘swim in every day.’ You know, they love it. I just massage it everywhere. I'll use it on my knees, I'll use it on my shins, especially when you get older, the skin is very delicate there, and it's fantastic for that.
When I go and I have a pedicure, you know, they have to massage the Body Repair Treatment into my feet. It's the richest cream, and I use it at night as well. The great thing is that it actually goes into your skin, so it's not just sitting on the surface. I go to bed with the cream on and then wake up in the morning, and my skin feels amazing. The more I use it, the better my skin is. I mean, honestly, young people keep coming up to me saying, ‘Why is your skin amazing?’”
You’re big on sun protection too, right?
“I am English, which means that the sign of you having any success in your family is to go away to the hottest place you can imagine and do this, [lie out] in the sun and literally turn dark brown, which I do immediately. I tan very quickly, but oh my gosh, I have lived to regret that!
I put SPF on top of my skin regimen after I've got all my Crepe Erase and skin care on. I always put sunscreen on top, and I just don't ever sit in the sun. I also have hats that I actually helped design that are UPF 50.
I'll walk through the sun, I'll play tennis in the sun, but I always make sure I cover the areas I have to. The damage you do when you're young comes back to haunt you later in life.”
Speaking of tennis, what does exercise look for you now?
“I started out as a ballerina, so I have a body that actually listens. My brain and my body are connected. They don't always actually perform the way they know they should, but I do have muscles underneath there that were trained once upon a time. So for me personally, Pilates is brilliant, whether it's mat Pilates or on a reformer. I also do Gyrotonics, but mostly I do all of this with the light weights. We need that muscle tone, especially as we get older. Every day, I do a combination of Pilates, stretching, isometrics, crunches, yoga, but I don't push myself because I'm way too competitive. Listen to your body. Don't injure yourself trying to become superwoman.”
What makes you feel most beautiful these days?
“Happiness, and really being comfortable in my own skin. Feeling that I can experience life one day at a time and appreciate nature, health, real friends, meeting new people, and debating and having new ideas and learning about new cultures. I'm a painter as well, so I'm constantly painting. And then I just love acting, so I get a thrill out of working with all the young ones and they'll say, ‘How do you do this? How do you do that? How do you survive this?’ And they actually listen, which is kind of cool.”
Of course they listen! You radiate confidence. Where do you think that comes from?
“I think it actually comes from having survived a lot in my life. I mean, I really have. A long time ago, I was doing a movie, and I actually died and came back—they resuscitated me. So you know, if the greatest fear we have in life is a wrinkle, that is not as problematic to me as being dead. Once you've had that happen, it is an amazing gift because now you really enjoy and appreciate life for what it is and you do the best you can with what you have.
Your body is your vehicle. You take care of it because you want it to be mobile. You want it to feel good, look good, be healthy. If you feel good about yourself, if you're accepting of who you are, this is your best self today at this time. And if it isn't, you know you'll do better tomorrow and you'll let go of today.”
What is one beauty myth women should stop believing as they get older?
“That it's all over, that it's time to bury yourself under a rock, that your time is done. You've gone through menopause, you've had the kids…I think it's an attitude. I know a lot of people who say ‘I’m too old to do this,’ or ‘I'm too old to do that.’ You're never too old to do it. You just have to listen to your body while you're doing it.”
You've done so many exciting things throughout your career. Was there a moment where you felt like you’d made it?
“Well, there have been many. The Bond film [Live and Let Die in 1973] was amazing because that was beyond anything I’ve ever imagined. More recently, Wedding Crashers was a phenomenal moment for me because I was working with the best in comedy, writing, directing and actors—working with Owen Wilson was magic. Dr. Quinn came at the lowest point in my life. I had lost everything—my marriage, my home—and I had been betrayed so horribly. I was so deep in debt that I called my agent and said I’d literally do anything. They handed me the script for Dr. Quinn, and I cried when I read it. It was just a magical seven years of extraordinary, brilliant writing. I don’t think there’s a series like it out there, and it still plays in 98 countries, so that was special.
And, the relationship I had with Joe Lando was so magical—the chemistry was so great. I thought I’d never do a series again. Female careers, leading ladies are pretty much over when you’re 40. Well, I got Dr. Quinn at 40, pretending I was 30, and at 75, this is my fifth season of Harry Wild, and it’s just getting better and better, and now we have Joe Lando in it as well.”
At the end of Harry Wild season 4, there are no hints of Joe Lando joining the cast for season 5. Will it be a recurring role?
“He is involved in all six episodes, and he's physically involved in five of them. I think one of them we talk about him at some point just because it didn’t work in whatever was happening in the mystery. He has definitely been asked if he’s available to come back [if there’s a season 6]!”
