The Thorn Birds star Rachel Ward has a message for fans commenting on her “unkempt” appearance.
Ward, 68, played Meghan “Meggie” Cleary opposite the late Richard Chamberlain in the 1983 miniseries. In the decades since, she has stepped back from the spotlight to live on an Australian farm with her husband, Bryan Brown, sharing updates via Instagram.
During the holiday season, a natural-looking Ward shared a video to her Instagram page thanking “all those who sent lovely messages this year” while talking about her neighbors and her work on the farm. However, some claimed Ward was unrecognizable with gray hair and no makeup, with the video racking up over 860,000 views.
When those comments started to go viral, others swarmed to the comments section of Ward’s video to applaud her natural beauty. “In a world full of Kardashians, be a Rachel Ward,” one person commented while another said that Ward “has one of the greatest faces in the history of greatest faces. Incredible in all her eras. And frankly, she is a national treasure. I’d watch her boil a kettle.”
In a new video posted Friday, Ward addressed the criticism and said in the caption she was “overwhelmed by the generosity that poured forth after a few fearful trolls went on the attack of my rather unkempt appearance before Christmas.”
“I’m a farmer now but really should do my hair and apply some lippy before I go on social media. Apologies for frightening a few of you,” she continued in the caption, adding that she would “crawl under a rock” but is eager to promote her her new farm initiative, testing a new way for people to purchase food and groceries.
In the video itself, she “responded to the brouhaha over the trolls criticizing my appearance.”
“Do not fear aging,” she said. “It’s a wonderful period of life,” she said, adding that she’s “more fulfilled than ever” and has “no regrets leaving my youth and beauty behind.”
She added: “I’m not youthful, but I am a very happy camper. Later years are to be exalted and welcomed. You wait until you get there. They have so many other gifts to bestow that you have no idea what they are until you get there.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she concluded. “I do recognize that we’re all a little bit worried about losing our youth and resorting to rather drastic ways of holding on to it, but let it go.”
Fans applauded Ward’s candid take on aging in the comments section of that video, with one writing, “Aging is an honor and a privilege that not everyone gets to experience, and you are doing it with such grace.”
“You are a timeless classic. Your beauty shines from within,” another wrote while someone else agreed, “Beautiful message. Beautiful you.”
