Helen Mirren On Sex Symbol Tag And Size Zero....

Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren revels in her current status as a sex symbol - but she wasn't always so welcoming of the accolade.The Queen star, 62, earned her reputation as a temptress after disrobing in movies Calendar Girls and Caligula, but she admits she used to resent the tag.She says, "The sex symbol image annoyed me when I was younger. At the time maybe I should have been enjoying it but I found it a bit of an albatross. As I got older I cared less and less and now I am absolutely thrilled."Meanwhile the actress has launched a scathing attack on the fashion industry's size zero craze, putting the blame for the "horrifically thin" models on female fashion editors.The Academy Award-winner, 62, had first hand experience of size discrimination when she took her niece, an aspiring model, to several booking agencies - only to be told she was overweight.And Mirren insists it is all down to senior fashion writers and editors.She says, "I blame my own sex vehemently on this. It is women who run the magazine and women who editorialise and women who make the decisions."I think it is completely iniquitous to have incredibly skinny girls on the runway. A lot of the girls are horrifically thin and of course they have a problem. Mostly, the fashion industry chooses to turn a blind eye."

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