In this week’s episode of HELLO!’s Second Act podcast, Disney actress and Second Act model Mia Maugé opens up about how embracing her grey hair changed her life, how she coped with an empty nest and why being single has helped her career.
Having spent decades following beauty ideals, when model and actress Mia Maugé stopped dying her hair at 50, it changed her life in ways she could never have imagined.
“There was a pressure to cling to my youth at any cost,” the former music journalist and mother-of-two Mia reveals in this week’s Second Act podcast. But it was pressure from her teenage daughters to embrace her natural grey hair that made her stop. “The longer it got, I loved it and the more settled I felt in my skin. I didn't expect that. That one decision to stop dyeing my hair was the beginning of the elevation of my second act.”
She started documenting her hair journey on instagram and quickly found a community of like-minded women. Modelling agency offers followed which led to a lingerie campaign for Marks & Spencer aged 54, a YSL beauty campaign, and landing a role in the Disney remake of The Little Mermaid.
“That was the most incredible experience,” she recalls of filming the blockbuster, which starred Halle Bailey and Bridesmaid star Melissa McCarthy. “I can't believe I can claim to be Disney's first middle aged, silver haired mermaid of colour. My future grandchildren will see my name in the credits.”
It was a pipe-dream for Mia who aged 16 was told by her school career advisor to choose an alternative career. “Had the modeling come earlier, I wouldn't have had the confidence,” she says. “It came at the right time because there was purpose and service to it.
“(Being in 50s) is such a magnificent time in life… but we don't see the beauty and power that comes with (aging). I hope that's what people see when I am in a campaign where you wouldn't ordinarily see someone that looks like me and are empowered by that.”
She credits being single for achieving huge success later on in life. “I don't think I could have achieved as much as I have in the last five years had I been with somebody. I couldn’t have applied myself or been as available as I have been, without really annoying a partner.”
Having turned 60 last year, Mia says she has finally brushed off any ageist perceptions she used to have. “I didn’t want to acknowledge I was turning 40,” she says. “But my 50s have been the most life-affirming, I am looking forward to my 60s.”
“My second act means nurturing and prioritizing myself, coming to fruition in lots of ways, and understanding myself. This all sounds so self centered, but I spent a long time giving and nurturing others, and I think a lot of women feel like that.”
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