The annual L’Oréal Paris ‘We’re Worth It’ catwalk show is always an empowering moment, as some of the world’s most iconic superstars take to the Parisian runway and strut their stuff for the sisterhood. Last night was no exception – and nobody looked more powerful than Viola Davis, 61.
The How To Get Away With Murder actress was dressed to kill in a glittering sheath dress that showed off her sensational figure, and especially her super-toned arms. It’s a look she works hard for. Very, very hard. As Viola told Good Housekeeping in an exclusive interview ahead of L'Oreal's Le Défilé show, she works out with a fitness coach so tough that she likens her to The Dark Lord from Harry Potter.
‘I have a trainer, Gabriela McLain. I call her the Lord Voldemort of trainers. She’s brutal,’ she jokes. This villainous nemesis puts Viola through her paces several times a week, presumably with the relentless grip of a Death Eater’s Cruciatus Curse.
And Viola can’t get enough of the ‘torture’. She grins: ‘I'm the workout girl now. I would love to work out six days a week, but usually it’s four, five times a week, for an hour. It’s lifting weights, push-ups, planks. I feel so proud of myself because I'm 61 and I'm working out on a high level like that. And then my husband and I walk the dog.’
Whew. Is there a signature move she dreads but knows really works? ‘Oh my god, yeah. The pull-ups. They're brutal for me, they're absolutely brutal. But Lord Voldemort really pushes those!’
Viola tells us it’s a workout for her mindset as well as her toned triceps. ‘It makes me feel capable, lifting weights,’ she says. ‘There’s such a fear out there with women of “I’m going to bulk up, I’m going to look like a dude.” I don’t feel any of that. I feel strong.’
Ageing well, the Viola way
Away from the sweating and into the spotlight, Viola tells us she’s never felt more confident about herself and her appearance as she’s grown older. Beauty has taken on a whole new joy, built around self-acceptance and self-worth. ‘I just use myself as the palette,’ she says. ‘I’m not trying to do this sort of Marvel movie transformation into an idea of what I should look like. I’m comfortable with just me.’
Letting go of comparisons is key to her idea of ageing well. ‘It's like hitting a home run. That’s how it feels with ageing,’ she reflects. ‘You know, you've gone through all the falls and the heartache and the failure and the uncomfortableness of feeling like you want to be in someone else's skin. Until you finally are relieved from all of it. It's a process, and it's beautiful when you get to that point.’
She likens her journey to that of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and the gradual realisation that the only people holding her back are actually versions of herself. ‘Now, I feel like I have my ruby slippers,’ she says. ‘I'm not looking for anything outside of myself to give me the answers to life. I keep reminding myself that I have it within me to have the sort of life that I want. That's been my biggest discovery.’
Glamorous, fascinating to chat to, and supremely talented, it’s easy to see why L’Oréal Paris snapped up the stunning Oscar winner to join their roster of superstars back in 2019, yet Viola herself didn’t always believe in her own self-worth. ‘I didn’t see myself represented in a beauty brand at all. You know, I saw it for maybe other women, but not me. And it's such a surprise of my life that I feel very much at home in it,’ she says of her L’Oréal Paris role. ‘I think it’s because they see me.’
Preparing for the runway show underlines that feeling even more. ‘L'Oréal makes me feel pretty. It does. Because it gives me a sense of belonging. That "Worth It" mantra injects itself in my soul.’
A beautiful marriage
Beyond cosmetics and catwalks, Viola feels her best, most beautiful self in quieter moments, too, and especially with her husband, actor and film producer Julius Tennon, whom she married in 2003. ‘I feel beautiful and confident when I’m with my husband, alone in our house,’ she says. ‘We take baths together.’ We hope he lets her have the non-tap end? ‘Oh both ends are the good ends,’ she assures us.
Skincare is something Viola approaches as seriously as her workout regime. ‘I am intentional and I’m committed to my skincare,’ she tells us, listing her ‘very specific’ evening regime: facial steaming, a 30-second face scrub, gentle towel patting, L’Oréal Midnight face serum, moisturiser and then ‘I smear on facial until it it looks like it's dripping from my face’ she says. ‘It looks like you’re going to get oil all over the pillow but I guarantee as you get older, it’s all going to sink in and you look fantastic in the morning.’
L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Midnight Serum
And it’s not just baths she shares with her husband. ‘I do masks three or four times a week. I do the L’Oréal Glass Skin one. I put it on myself and I put it on my husband, too.’
L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Glass Skin Hydrogel Glow Mask, Korean Skincare Inspired Face Masks, 1pc
L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Glass Skin Hydrogel Glow Mask, Korean Skincare Inspired Face Masks, 1pc
Self-care and motherhood
Wellness gets a full share of Viola's attention as well. ‘PEMF mats, therapy, massage chair, meditation, I do it all,’ she says. ‘I feel really, really good when I'm by myself sometimes. And I'm at peace with it. There's no anxiety, there's no wanting to be somewhere else, there's no wanting to be someone else. It's just those quiet moments where I get to look around and I get to see what I've manifested.’
Viola is mother to 16-year-old Genesis, and we ask what beauty advice she’s given her daughter to help navigate her teenage years. She laughs heartily. ‘Oh, I don’t give her any beauty advice. Oh my god, are you kidding me? A teenage girl? I mean, she’s giving me beauty advice about highlighters.’
With a makeup drawer even better stocked than her mum’s, Genesis sounds a reliable source of beauty advice – something Viola didn't always get when she was starting out.
‘I think the worst advice I had was probably to just slap on all this makeup when you're going to the grocery store,’ she says. ‘That was the advice given to me, because you don’t know who’s going to see you. I think if you're doing all of that, then you're coming from a place of getting your worthiness from the outside and not from yourself. I don’t [do that] anymore. It goes along with the L’Oréal feeling that you’re already worth it.’
Viola on... her makeup bag must
Viola’s powerful pout on L'Oreal's Le Défilé catwalk is down to her hero product. ‘My favourite is the Color Riche red lipstick. I love lipstick because I’ve grown to love my lips.’ she says. ‘I find that even if I just put on a great moisturiser and a great lip, it's everything.’
Viola on… wellness maxxing
Why do one self-care therapy when five will do? Viola engages in a multitude of wellness practices, ascribing to the view that more is more. ‘Life is too complicated, there’s so much noise out there, and there’s such an epidemic of disconnection and loneliness that I think that you have to answer it with just as big of a response,’ she says.
Viola on… food
'I'm a healthy woman, but here's the thing: I’m a foodie. You can mention any food, I like it.’ she tells us. After learning she was pre-diabetic in 2016, Viola tells us she now eats very healthily (she's a keen home chef), avoids dairy and tries to steer clear of gluten, but makes occasional exceptions for the foods she loves.
‘I am a hypocrite because I have to have a croissant,’ she laughs. ‘The key to all of it is also letting go sometimes and having the French fry. Don’t forget to have anything.’
Viola Davis is a spokesmodel for L'Oréal Paris and walked the brand's Le Défilé catwalk at Paris Fashion Week
