Many thoughts came to mind on seeing Elizabeth Hurley’s recent 60th birthday Instagram post, where she is sitting smiling in a meadow, in as she writes, her “birthday suit”. Like, where will this older celebrity nudity arms race end? Jennifer Aniston did a birthday shoot at 40 for GQ; Gwyneth Paltrow posted nudes three years running, culminating in one painted gold at 50; Amanda Holden posed naked on some rocks (ouch) at 53. Now here’s Hurley. In the era of Martha Stewart (now 83) posting semi-clad thirst trap pics, I’m half expecting to see Sir David Attenborough mark his 100th with his modesty preserved only by a strategically placed aardvark (though the patriarchy seems to have ensured men don’t feel compelled to do this).
I also found myself thinking: yes, she looks incredible, but it must be such a slog to look that good, and why bother? There are upsides to the terrifying rise of artificial intelligence – surely one of them is being able to celebrate qualifying for a senior railcard by enjoying a cream tea while fully clothed as a robot creates a sexy nude of you to post? Any candid paparazzi shots seeming to contradict this could also be credibly dismissed as AI-generated.
