A conversation with Elle Macpherson – a supermodel whose status, reputation and image goes before her; yet someone driven to seeing improvement, not deterioration, as the years advance, writes Simone Lee.
There’s not too much you can say about Elle Macpherson that hasn’t already been said. A darling of the catwalk, a pioneer of women’s fashion, a forerunner in the health market. But more than that, someone who has extended the benefit of good looks into business, philanthropy, and even the movies.
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“My philosophy has always been to take the opportunities that have come my way,” she begins. “That is sometimes easier said than done, but I think the ability to push yourself into situations you are perhaps not comfortable with is undoubtedly a route towards growing, progressing, evolving as a person, and that’s definitely made me who I am.”
Elle first started making headlines back in the early 1980s with modelling jobs in New York a way of subsidising her law studies at Sydney University. Leaping onto the covers of magazines such as Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Tatler, her status continued to rocket in the midst of a high-profile relationship with musician Billy Joel. And then, in 1986, there was Sports Illustrated…
“It’s interesting that people talk so much about the Sports Illustrated covers,” continues Elle. “When I did my first in 1986 I think everyone was looking to see if the link-up would work. In my head I was the right person to do that sort of cover, but ultimately you never know how a campaign is going to be received, and I think the approval I took from that probably drove my career forward more than any other project.”
Returning to the title in 1987, and again in 1988, 1994 and, as a 42-year-old in 2006, Elle’s enduring longevity is a reference to someone who has constantly found the right balance between hard graft, humility and self-assured style over the years, rarely faltering even when held in the most microscopic focus of a lens.
“People ask me if the swagger and the confidence is real or not, and I have to admit that sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t.
“It is impossible to get up every day and feel driven, motivated and challenged to take on the world,” she says. “There will be times when we do feel like that, but it’s natural that on other days there is something holding us back, or we are compounded by stress or worry, or we just haven’t given ourselves enough time to regroup and recharge our batteries.
“And the older you get, the more you need to pay attention to that sort of thing. We are not the machines we once thought we were, and the truth is we don’t have to pretend to be. It’s okay to say, ‘you know, I just want to slow down here’.”
These days, Macpherson’s route to wellbeing is clearly a mastered synchronicity between body and mind. “I’ve really embraced guided meditation and I find it a fantastic way to start the day. I will get up about 5am and find I can interact best with myself when there is a stillness and patience to the world around me. I find that a beautiful and incredibly effective way to set up my day.”
When it comes to maintaining a remarkable physique whilst supplying her body with what it requires in terms of energy, nutrition and hydration, Macpherson is one of the celebrity world’s firmest advocates of vegan, plant-based, high-protein diets. “I’ve never been a huge fan of sugar or carb-heavy foods, but in recent years I can sense a real feeling of moving completely away from that.
“We are living in an era now where there is so much knowledge in terms of how our foods can be just as interesting, wholesome and heartening as those that are calorific or high in sugar, that I just don’t feel the need to reach for something unhealthy… unless that’s chocolate,” she laughs, “although most of my chocolate addiction can take the form of powder when put into a protein shake.”
Of course, as a co-founder of WelleCo, the organic plant-based supplements brand that she brought to market with the help of nutrition doctor Simone Laubscher, the 55-year-old has something of a vested interest in maintaining a lifestyle – and, to a lesser extent, an image – that has health as its centre stone.
“I wouldn’t launch, endorse or even advocate something that I didn’t passionately believe in,” she says. “In my years across so many different industries, the one thing I’ve learned that always applies is that, as a person, no matter what else you do, you have to stay true to yourself.”
That ‘truth’, as far as diet is concerned, is raw produce, vitamins, protein, water and seeds. Macpherson is passionate about the value of fruit and vegetables, and subscribes to the health benefits of herbs and spices, plus ‘boosters’ such as ginger and garlic.
She also credits her incredible age-defying look to a plant-based, pH-balanced diet, and also pushes the virtues of her self-formulated elixir. “I believe in beauty from the inside out, and that builds the longevity and strength that we can then take forward into later life.
“That’s a big thing for me, because if we don’t take care of ourselves at our core then our very ability to survive is built on false foundations. And yes, I know how hard it is to keep to good habits, but I’ve never believed in going cold turkey with anything – this is all about gradual changes that then forms longer-term habits.”
The yearning for a clear mind has accounted for a number of relationships, most recently the cessation of a second marriage – that to Florida-based hotel heir and billionaire Jeffrey Soffer, which ended in 2015. In celebrity circles the Australian has always been known to follow her own plan, shunning protocol and pursuing habits and choices that suit her only. How else could you explain the recent relationship she has struck up with UK doctor Andrew Wakefield, someone who provoked considerable controversy by claiming an MMR vaccine could lead to autism in young children.
Wakefield represents the very antithesis of the glamour The Body has assumed as her own over such a distinguished career, and yet rumours of a relationship are every bit the sort of move the Australian model would make given her pursuit of simple, more wholesome avenues in life.
“In every decision I make now I remind myself to ask the question – am I doing this for me or am I doing it for someone else?
“Thinking in that became a really defining thing for me. Of course, looking after my children is always top of that, but beyond that it was a case of make smart decisions for me and the people around me who really matter; and perhaps work could be left for longer than it had been before; perhaps the phone didn’t have to be answered all the time; perhaps that business trip could wait.
“It was a big psychological shift for me but one I am glad I undertook.”
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