Helena Christensen: I won’t let age define me

Helena Christensen has said she does not want her age to define her.

The supermodel, 49, is now a successful photographer and said she has changed her outlook as she has got older.

She told Red magazine: “‘It’s the first thing people ever ask women over a certain age, and I’m not interested.

“I don’t want to think about it or talk about it or let it define me.”

Discussing her approach to food, she said: “I never even ask myself ‘Do you feel comfortable now with your body?’

“I grew up extremely skinny with a fast metabolism. Kids and adults would tease me and I spent my formative years trying to put weight on – that really shaped me.

“Although it left me with some issues as I got older, of course I also realised being skinny and being able to eat whatever I wanted made me fortunate.

“Now I’m food-obsessed. I have no guilty pleasure in any area of life because I refuse to feel guilt.

“I love desserts – whipped cream is one of my favourite things to eat.”

Christensen added that she is still in touch with the supermodels who rocketed to fame at the same time as her, saying: “I see Cindy (Crawford) and Christy (Turlington), sometimes Naomi (Campbell).

“We go for dinners and it’s the loveliest thing because we were all so young when we met and share so many incredible and incredibly strange memories, which in some ways means there will always be a special bond between us.”

Christensen is now a mother to 18-year-old son Mingus, from her relationship with The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, and said they are “really good friends”.

She added: “He’s 18 now and the teenage years change things.

“There are times when I feel I can’t deal with it any more, then the next day it’s amazing again.

“There’s nothing quite like a teenager to make you feel like the most uncool person in the world. (And) sometimes, even though he aggravates me, I know he’s right.”

Read the full interview in the September issue of Red, which is on sale on August 1.