LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Viola Davis "loves" her age and finds it frustrating that Hollywood shames older women. The 57-year-old Hollywood actress has spoken out against the "societal pressure" placed on women in the "image-conscious" movie industry to preserve their young looks, reports femalefirst.co.uk

She said in the latest issue issue of Platinum magazine: "I'm probably not the ideal person to question about my age because I adore it. Even when I was younger, all I saw in the faces of Helen Mirren, Jane Fonda, and Cicely Tyson was beauty " But, yeah, the industry is highly image-conscious, and when you combine that with societal pressure, you have a perfect storm of age discrimination. But this is where I believe the midlife crisis enters the picture.

"It's about breaking free from all of that. I simply believe that there is a lot of shame factor with getting older in Hollywood, and it doesn't assist women, especially because our value is so often placed in how we look, how well we cook, and how we nurture our children." The 'Woman King' actress, who has a 12-year-old adopted daughter Genesis with her husband Julius Tennon, "honours" her younger appearance in the same way she does her daughter's.

"I can't honour her by proclaiming, 'Oh, I'm still not pretty enough, I'm too old.' I can honour her in the same way as I honour my daughter and other young people by looking at six-year-old Viola and appreciating her beauty, then going back and saying, 'Viola, you were lovely.' I'm literally reconciling with my lips, nose, and skin tone when I look in the mirror now.

"It makes me happy. That is what drives me to take chances. That is what distinguishes me as Viola Davis."

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