50 this year: Annie Lennox says No to Botox. Yeah, right!
Posted: Thu 18 Mar 2004, 11:50 am
Taken from the Daily Record site. Can't believe she's 50 this year (same as Neil):
HERE COMES THE PAIN AGAIN Mar 6 2004
Exclusive Annie Lennox's Oscar nod to cancer mumnox's Oscar nod to cancer mum
By Rick Fulton
ANNIE LENNOX has opened her heart for the first time about the 'devastating disease' which has claimed both her parents.
The Scots singer revealed she dedicated last week's Best Song Oscar to her mum,Dorothy, because she was diagnosed with cancer while she recorded the winning Lord of the Rings track, Into The West.
Annie, 49, whowas at her mum's bedside when she died last September, said: 'The academy really encouraged nominees to have a speech prepared in case they won.
'I was writing out a tiny list of people and it occurred to me that Into The West was recorded, rather tragically for me I suppose, and for her, at a time when she'd been diagnosed with cancer.
'That was going on in the background over those months and I really felt it was a moment for me to make a personal tribute to her.'
Annie added: 'I've been through such a lot with her and anyone who has experienced cancer and I've lost both my mum and dad Tom to cancer now - knows what an utterly devastating disease it is.
'I didn't think that I needed to harp on about it too much, but I thought it wouldbe really nice to acknowledge her.
'And all the family and friends back in Scotland would know that it was a significant thing. It was a good thing to do.'
Annie, whowas born in Aberdeen, also dedicated her win to her 'darling friend' Michael Kamen, a renowned composer who worked on early Eurythmics tunes including Here Comes The Rain Again.
Annie added: 'He was a close friend of mine. Just a dear friend who succumbed to Multiple Sclerosis.
'It's a very ravaging thing.' With her mum and Michael's death, 2003 was obviously a difficult year for her.
Annie said softly: 'I'm sure it was a hard year for a lot of people but, yes, it wasn't an easy one.'
But 2004 has certainly started on a happier note for Scotland's greatest female singer, thanks to her Oscar.
But she claims she's back on ground level after the glitz and glamour of LA.
The star, who has always been notoriously anti-celebrity, said: 'I've come down. I'm firmly rooted to the ground.'
As only the 12th Scot to receive the acting world's greatest award, following in the footsteps of Sir Sean Connery and Peter Capaldi, Annie knows how special her Oscar win is.
The singer, who has earned stacks of gongs including eight Brit Awards, three Grammys and a Golden Globe, said: 'I'm still thinking about where to put it.
'I'm not the kind to have a glass cabinet full of trophies.
'It will be somewhere that's a healthy balance between the mantelpiece and the toilet.'
But her friends and family are overjoyed at the win.
She said: 'My daughters are thrilled. It's nice for them.They didn't stay up to watch it as they had school.
'But I think just about everyone I know has touched the Oscar.'
Without a doubt, Annie wasone of the brightest stars at the Awards in Los Angeles.
Despite facing the big 5-0 in December, she looked 10 years younger with platinum blonde hair and shimmering eyes to match her Stella McCartney gown in stunning ice blue satin.
Annie laughed off any compliments about how radiant she looked and beamed: 'I didn't have any Botox if that's what you're thinking.
'No facelift, no Botox.'
That's not to say she wouldn't consider surgery in the future.
'I don't know. I might,' Annie says. 'If it came to the time when I wept when I looked at myself in the mirror.
'But I think I've a very young spirit. I still feel like I'm about 15 in some respects. Because I have a very open mind and am very alive as a person.'
Annie said Stella McCartney should take a lot of credit for her Oscars night appearance, and told how the down-to-earth young designer volunteered to make a gown especially for her.
Apparently, they even joked at the beginning about giving Annie pointed ears like The Lord of the Rings elves.
Annie said: 'I met Stella a couple of times just coincidentally. She's a vital spark, a very special girl to be honest.
'She called mewhen she'd heard I'd been nominated for an Oscar and said she'd so love to makeme something.
'We had a talk about it.We figured out what would be appropriate considering I was going to perform.
'It had to look like something connected to The Lord of the Rings, but I didn't want to be overly Celtic or whimsical.
'We had a lot of jokes about hobbit ears but, at the end of the day, I thought it might detract from the tone of the song.'
But her laugh quickly disappeared as she turned to the amount of work it took to make her two-and-a-half-minute song go without a hitch on the night a rehearsal every day she was in LA before the ceremony.
ALTHOUGH Annie has spent much of her professional life keeping away from the starry-eyed end of showbusiness, she admitted even she was bowled over by the vast number of celebrities gathered in one place that night.
Annie said: 'It was especially nice to see someone there in the body. Faye Dunaway approached me. I think she's an extraordinary actress and there wewere having a chat.'
Despite being at the biggest showbiz bash of the year, Annie admitted she herself was in bedby midnight while others partied until the next morning.
She said: 'After the show, wehad to do interviews and photographs andby that point I was just utterly exhausted because I hadn't eaten very much at all that whole day.I went to the Governor's Ball. I went to have a bite to eat, but after that I was looking for the nearest stretcher. I wasn't prepared to go to any of the parties. 'I'd have loved to if there'd been some the next night but I was just too tired, so I went back to my hotel.' For Annie, the best bit was a couple of weeks beforehand at a lunch given by the Academy for all the nominees. She said: 'I don't have aspirations to meet people, but if I do meet them it's a little bonus or a 'Wow' moment. 'There were quite a few at this lunch people who'd accomplished great things in their particular sphere from actors to directors and producers.' Like who?
Annie's wall goes up. 'Do I have to name them? I'm not much of a name dropper.' Anyone watching the Academy Awards ceremony could see how much those who were part ofThe Lord of the Rings family enjoyed themselves. And no wonder the final film,The Return Of the King, won 11 Oscars in all the categories it was nominated for an awards record. Sitting with fellow Lord of the Rings Scot Billy Boyd, who played hobbit Pippin, and other members of the cast and crew in a cluster to the left of the stage, the night was like a dream for Annie. She said: 'The real celebration was when each award was being announced. It was like a champagne bottle being uncorked every time. 'It was just amazing.The director, Peter Jackson, is extraordinary. And rumour has it his next project will be even more extraordinary.' The project is King Kong. Will Annie do a song for that?
She said: 'Well he's not asked me.He'll have his ideas about music further down the line. I don't expect to be asked again.'
With so many awards and classic songs such asWhy, Sweet Dreams (Are Made OfThis),There Must Be an Angel and Who's That Girl, what does the Oscar mean to her?
Speaking in her soft Scots brogue, she said: 'It meant that I was able to participate in a very interesting event which, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed.
'It wasan acknowledgement of who I am as an artist. There's a certain significance to it but, for me, as an artist I'm always saying: 'Next.' ' Annie will tour with fellow Oscar nominee Sting in the summer but, for the moment, only in America.
She says she'll be making a record at some point but, other than that, she's not sure.
Whatever she produces, it's unlikely to be as raw as her recent album, Bare, which seemed largely to deal with her split from second husband Uri Fruchtmann, the father of her two children.
Annie said: 'I think I've gone through a lot and I've survived it.
'As long as I'm still standing and still being able to make music, it's self evident that I'm a survivor.
'I don't think I'm exceptional in any of this. I think everyone has their lives to live and their ups and their downs.
'I don't think I'm particularly unique in any respect.'
Annie Lennox album Bare is available on BMG records.
HERE COMES THE PAIN AGAIN Mar 6 2004
Exclusive Annie Lennox's Oscar nod to cancer mumnox's Oscar nod to cancer mum
By Rick Fulton
ANNIE LENNOX has opened her heart for the first time about the 'devastating disease' which has claimed both her parents.
The Scots singer revealed she dedicated last week's Best Song Oscar to her mum,Dorothy, because she was diagnosed with cancer while she recorded the winning Lord of the Rings track, Into The West.
Annie, 49, whowas at her mum's bedside when she died last September, said: 'The academy really encouraged nominees to have a speech prepared in case they won.
'I was writing out a tiny list of people and it occurred to me that Into The West was recorded, rather tragically for me I suppose, and for her, at a time when she'd been diagnosed with cancer.
'That was going on in the background over those months and I really felt it was a moment for me to make a personal tribute to her.'
Annie added: 'I've been through such a lot with her and anyone who has experienced cancer and I've lost both my mum and dad Tom to cancer now - knows what an utterly devastating disease it is.
'I didn't think that I needed to harp on about it too much, but I thought it wouldbe really nice to acknowledge her.
'And all the family and friends back in Scotland would know that it was a significant thing. It was a good thing to do.'
Annie, whowas born in Aberdeen, also dedicated her win to her 'darling friend' Michael Kamen, a renowned composer who worked on early Eurythmics tunes including Here Comes The Rain Again.
Annie added: 'He was a close friend of mine. Just a dear friend who succumbed to Multiple Sclerosis.
'It's a very ravaging thing.' With her mum and Michael's death, 2003 was obviously a difficult year for her.
Annie said softly: 'I'm sure it was a hard year for a lot of people but, yes, it wasn't an easy one.'
But 2004 has certainly started on a happier note for Scotland's greatest female singer, thanks to her Oscar.
But she claims she's back on ground level after the glitz and glamour of LA.
The star, who has always been notoriously anti-celebrity, said: 'I've come down. I'm firmly rooted to the ground.'
As only the 12th Scot to receive the acting world's greatest award, following in the footsteps of Sir Sean Connery and Peter Capaldi, Annie knows how special her Oscar win is.
The singer, who has earned stacks of gongs including eight Brit Awards, three Grammys and a Golden Globe, said: 'I'm still thinking about where to put it.
'I'm not the kind to have a glass cabinet full of trophies.
'It will be somewhere that's a healthy balance between the mantelpiece and the toilet.'
But her friends and family are overjoyed at the win.
She said: 'My daughters are thrilled. It's nice for them.They didn't stay up to watch it as they had school.
'But I think just about everyone I know has touched the Oscar.'
Without a doubt, Annie wasone of the brightest stars at the Awards in Los Angeles.
Despite facing the big 5-0 in December, she looked 10 years younger with platinum blonde hair and shimmering eyes to match her Stella McCartney gown in stunning ice blue satin.
Annie laughed off any compliments about how radiant she looked and beamed: 'I didn't have any Botox if that's what you're thinking.
'No facelift, no Botox.'
That's not to say she wouldn't consider surgery in the future.
'I don't know. I might,' Annie says. 'If it came to the time when I wept when I looked at myself in the mirror.
'But I think I've a very young spirit. I still feel like I'm about 15 in some respects. Because I have a very open mind and am very alive as a person.'
Annie said Stella McCartney should take a lot of credit for her Oscars night appearance, and told how the down-to-earth young designer volunteered to make a gown especially for her.
Apparently, they even joked at the beginning about giving Annie pointed ears like The Lord of the Rings elves.
Annie said: 'I met Stella a couple of times just coincidentally. She's a vital spark, a very special girl to be honest.
'She called mewhen she'd heard I'd been nominated for an Oscar and said she'd so love to makeme something.
'We had a talk about it.We figured out what would be appropriate considering I was going to perform.
'It had to look like something connected to The Lord of the Rings, but I didn't want to be overly Celtic or whimsical.
'We had a lot of jokes about hobbit ears but, at the end of the day, I thought it might detract from the tone of the song.'
But her laugh quickly disappeared as she turned to the amount of work it took to make her two-and-a-half-minute song go without a hitch on the night a rehearsal every day she was in LA before the ceremony.
ALTHOUGH Annie has spent much of her professional life keeping away from the starry-eyed end of showbusiness, she admitted even she was bowled over by the vast number of celebrities gathered in one place that night.
Annie said: 'It was especially nice to see someone there in the body. Faye Dunaway approached me. I think she's an extraordinary actress and there wewere having a chat.'
Despite being at the biggest showbiz bash of the year, Annie admitted she herself was in bedby midnight while others partied until the next morning.
She said: 'After the show, wehad to do interviews and photographs andby that point I was just utterly exhausted because I hadn't eaten very much at all that whole day.I went to the Governor's Ball. I went to have a bite to eat, but after that I was looking for the nearest stretcher. I wasn't prepared to go to any of the parties. 'I'd have loved to if there'd been some the next night but I was just too tired, so I went back to my hotel.' For Annie, the best bit was a couple of weeks beforehand at a lunch given by the Academy for all the nominees. She said: 'I don't have aspirations to meet people, but if I do meet them it's a little bonus or a 'Wow' moment. 'There were quite a few at this lunch people who'd accomplished great things in their particular sphere from actors to directors and producers.' Like who?
Annie's wall goes up. 'Do I have to name them? I'm not much of a name dropper.' Anyone watching the Academy Awards ceremony could see how much those who were part ofThe Lord of the Rings family enjoyed themselves. And no wonder the final film,The Return Of the King, won 11 Oscars in all the categories it was nominated for an awards record. Sitting with fellow Lord of the Rings Scot Billy Boyd, who played hobbit Pippin, and other members of the cast and crew in a cluster to the left of the stage, the night was like a dream for Annie. She said: 'The real celebration was when each award was being announced. It was like a champagne bottle being uncorked every time. 'It was just amazing.The director, Peter Jackson, is extraordinary. And rumour has it his next project will be even more extraordinary.' The project is King Kong. Will Annie do a song for that?
She said: 'Well he's not asked me.He'll have his ideas about music further down the line. I don't expect to be asked again.'
With so many awards and classic songs such asWhy, Sweet Dreams (Are Made OfThis),There Must Be an Angel and Who's That Girl, what does the Oscar mean to her?
Speaking in her soft Scots brogue, she said: 'It meant that I was able to participate in a very interesting event which, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed.
'It wasan acknowledgement of who I am as an artist. There's a certain significance to it but, for me, as an artist I'm always saying: 'Next.' ' Annie will tour with fellow Oscar nominee Sting in the summer but, for the moment, only in America.
She says she'll be making a record at some point but, other than that, she's not sure.
Whatever she produces, it's unlikely to be as raw as her recent album, Bare, which seemed largely to deal with her split from second husband Uri Fruchtmann, the father of her two children.
Annie said: 'I think I've gone through a lot and I've survived it.
'As long as I'm still standing and still being able to make music, it's self evident that I'm a survivor.
'I don't think I'm exceptional in any of this. I think everyone has their lives to live and their ups and their downs.
'I don't think I'm particularly unique in any respect.'
Annie Lennox album Bare is available on BMG records.
