She is a legendary "Pretty Baby." But when you ask Susan Sarandon for beauty tips, the advice that flows from her ruby red lipstick-ed lips can't be found on the end of a mascara wand or makeup brush.
Sarandon, 64, says to look to the left and the right. Do this several times a day. Avoid whiplash, but put your neck on a swivel.
She insists that the people around you might just be your own personal cause of fine lines, wrinkles, and worry creases. She asks: Is the company you keep making you reach for that bottle of Pepcid?
"I think the best beauty tip in life or just plain life tip is it's important to be around people that frame life in a way that's joyful, curious, and compassionate," says the film icon who stars in the upcoming movie "Jeff Who Lives At Home" and "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," now out on DVD.
"You get a lot back from being around those kinds of people and I think it shows in your eyes and on your face," she says.
If that's the case then Susan Sarandon might be running with the best crew around. She looks impossibly young, but that's not her only appeal. Susan has always been someone who calls it like she sees it – no matter what the consequences.
"Every time some little adorable twentysomething actor comes up to me and says, 'Oh my God, your skin is so great, I'll just smile. Then they'll say, 'What do you do?' The first thing I always say is, 'Well, put that cigarette out. You're 23. That's going to really catch up with you eventually.'"
REALITY CHECK
Susan is the first one to say that the same face isn't staring back in the mirror these days. It's not the same body slipping into those skinny jeans. "Certainly, I'm not in the shape I was when I first came to Hollywood. My face certainly isn't the way it was back then, but I did do a few really smart things over the years to make sure my face looked good when I was older – and those same tips apply now.
"First of all, I've always accepted the external ravages of time. Accept that your face and body will change," she says. "Once there is acceptance then you can work on looking and feeling good at this precise moment in time.
"Second, I've always known – way before it was fashionable – that you need to eat right, eat your veggies, eat your fruits and cut down on sugars," she says. "It's not age that causes some of the damage, but eating poorly, drinking and smoking that really wrecks havoc over the years."
THE TIME WARP AGAIN
Susan says that she still enjoys getting red carpet gorgeous, but goes to the pros for a little help. In fact, any woman can find a great makeup artist or stylist before a big event.
"I have a very good resource of makeup and hair people, so if you see me dolled up they've probably struggled for a good hour-and-a-half," she says with a laugh.
As for plastic surgery, she says it's an individual choice.
"I don't like when surgeons take an interesting looking woman and turn her into a female impersonator with gigantic breasts. It's too extreme. And frankly, why do we all want to look the same?" she poses.
CONFIDENCE AS A BEAUTY SECRET
Susan says that she might appear to "have it together" all the time, but that's not necessarily always the case.
"I don't feel confident all the time, but I feel there's something that drives you forward and keeps making you go towards the light," she says.
"I have my bad days," she admits.
Sarandon is split from long-time love Tim Robbins. Their union lasted from 1986 to 2009. "I have my days when I don't feel confident but I think my curiosity outweighs my ego most of the time and so I keep moving forward."
She says that the aches and pains of getting older even get her down. Last year, she really messed up her foot.
"I was on a pillow and then hobbling around. I just kept imagining me with a walker in a few years, but that was going too far," she says. "I did have a boot on my foot and the crutches were ridiculous.
"I realized that I don't like anything slowing me down. And, just like anyone else, I can feel a little bit sorry for myself," she says.
Sarandon, who has ownership in a pingpong club in New York, says getting out of the house is often the best way to jump start your attitude.
"Even with a hurt foot, I'd go to my club and listen to a band play," she says. "I'd hobble over to Spin and watch the competition and see who won that week."
"Just being around people gives you a glow. It's living," she says.
LIFE NOW
The native New Yorker, Oscar winner and former Ford model continues to live on the East Coast where she raises her kids and looks for new roles. She's mom to a grown actress daughter named Eva Amurri with director Franco Amurri and then there are sons Jack Henry and Miles with Robbins.
"There are a lot of big stars who can't get a job after they turn 40, that's true," she says. "Whatever age you are, you can't take any of it for granted. You have to go out for every job like your life depended on it.
I love acting, but I have to show them I can do the work. You can never rest on your laurels," she says.
At the end of the day, she says her biggest motivation is "my natural curiosity and my need to make connections.
"I'm motivated by things that frighten me," she says. "I don't care how old you are or what number is on your driver's license. You should still be trying to figure things out. That look of natural curiosity is the most beautiful thing in the world.
"I get up in the morning with some kind of greed for experience. I have a hunger for experience," she says. "And I have a hunger to connect with people."
She also has a hunger to find the best beauty treatment around: Natural joy.
"I find joy in my work. I'm always trying to have a good time on set because that's when things happen. That's when you're playful," she says. "Basically, I just to keep myself open to whatever surprises life will throw my way. I don't frown thinking, 'Oh no, what's around the corner?'
"I embrace it," she says.
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