Dame Prue Leith has urged older people to say 'yes' to things and enjoy the freedom of later life, insisting we have been “brainwashed” into believing the final decades are not the best.
The TV star and former Bake Off judge, 86, admits there will be tricky times, but for the majority of people, including herself, there is a great freedom once you are older.
'You Don't Give a Toss'
She said: “It can be tough but a lot of it is because we have been brainwashed into the idea that old age is a bad thing.
“I am trying to do a little bit to say no it is not. Don’t you remember your teenage years? They were really difficult. I was quarrelling with my family and bringing the wrong boys home. I didn’t know what I wanted to do myself or in life. I was really stressed. Now, the fact is when you are old you don’t give a toss, you can do what you like.”
She added: “I think it is a lot to do with attitude, I think so many people when they get old they feel they are obliged to stop wearing bright colours and stop doing what they used to do. They think it is not appropriate. What do you mean it’s not appropriate?”
Saying Yes to New Experiences
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Dame Prue elaborated on spontaneous things she has done that she would have said 'no' to when she was younger.
She said: “Do all the things you are not expected to do.
“One of the thing I have loved doing the last few years is a designer team in London Fashion week asked would I like to walk in their show.
“I thought I have never been a model in my life, I am a big clumsy large lady and my husband says I walk like a sailor. But I thought I would love to do it and I always says yes to anything because I like to try new things.
“I didn’t have time for a fitting so I turned up and what they did put me into was a sheath made of black latex. It took two men to pull it down. It had slits up the side with red lace, I mean it was bondage gear.
“But once I got into it I felt like this fantastic vamp. I strutted down the catwalk like an oversexed teenager.”
On another spontaneous event, she said: “I did the Masked Singer. It was another daft thing to do and I cannot sing a note, but I still said yes. I had a coach teach me to sing and I had the most wonderful time.”
Drawing the Line at Exercise
The one thing Dame Prue does draw the line at saying 'yes' to is lots of gym work.
She explained: “I have a chapter in my book on exercise, my basic attitude is don’t do it. It is so boring and takes so long.”
Dame Prue was on stage for a discussion called "Growing Old Disgracefully" with fellow authors Gyles Brandreth and Kathy Lette. She released a book earlier this year called ‘Being Old’.
She said: “I have never thought of myself as old, but I get irritated with the way so many people won’t talk about old age, it is ridiculous.
“My book is not a how to do it, it is just observations and it is quite funny.”
In the run up to the event she gave an interview to the BBC in September about ageing and said: "When you're old, you don't give a toss what anyone thinks, really, so you feel very free. You can have a snooze in the afternoon, and nobody thinks that's odd.
“You come into your own, you don't care what people think, you're not going to change. And so the world has to just put up with it."
In January, Dame Prue announced she was leaving The Great British Bake Off after almost a decade as a judge on the show. She continues to host her own cooking show on ITV alongside her husband John Playfair called Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen.
