ABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m so past caring about what people think about one\u2019s appearance or age,\u201d Ward told the outlet. \u201cWhy do we feel we\u2019ve got to pretend that we\u2019re still 40 when we\u2019re 68?\u201d<\/p>\n
She now spends her days without makeup at the 350-hectare farm in Nambucca Valley, Australia, that she owns with her husband of over four decades, Australian actor Bryan Brown, 78.<\/p>\n
The two, who share three children, met on the set of the highly successful American 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\nBryan Brown and Rachel Ward at the premiere of <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Ward recalled growing up with a father who taught her to put value on her looks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you need an education for? You are pretty enough to marry someone very rich,\u201d her father told Ward.<\/p>\n
She first started to provide for herself as a model, but in 1982, Ward moved to Hollywood to switch her modeling career to one of an actress.<\/p>\n
There, she was disappointed to discover how much women were sexualized.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were really not of any value unless it was your sexuality,\u201d she recalled the days of her earlier career.<\/p>\n\n\nRachel Ward in <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Now, she does not put value on looks, and shrugs off the mean comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few trolls were a bit shocked about my gray hair, who maybe hadn\u2019t seen me since I was 24, and then went, \u2018Oh my God, that\u2019s what you end up looking like,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ward said she is shaking the old limitations for women, who \u201cweren\u2019t allowed to have a wrinkle, weren\u2019t allowed to go grey, weren\u2019t allowed to not care\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat whole harping \u2026 that we still have to be sexual beings is terrifying. To have to have our bums lifted and our breasts lifted and our faces drawn back. It just becomes grotesque,” she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can say is that it\u2019s great to put that behind you, how you should look and be.\u201d<\/p>\n
In January, Ward also posted on Instagram<\/a> in response to negativity.<\/p>\n\u201cIn [my] sixties… I am more fulfilled than ever, and I have no regrets leaving my youth and beauty behind,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cDo not fear aging, it\u2019s a wonderful period of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the interview, she said that the two Instagram videos had brought her many new followers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow ironic that my going gray actually garnered me more attention than if I\u2019d taken my top off,\u201d Ward laughed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n