Rachel Ward is encouraging her fans to embrace aging while dismissing “trolls” who have criticized her appearance. The British actor, best known to U.S. audiences for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1983 television adaptation of “The Thorn Birds,” recently returned to the public eye as an advocate for regenerative farming. She frequently shares snapshots and videos from the 865-acre cattle farm where she and her husband, fellow actor Bryan Brown, live in New South Wales, Australia.
Addressing Online Criticism
Speaking to Australia’s ABC News in an interview published over the weekend, Ward acknowledged that some of her recent social media posts have garnered online snark, much of it focused on her makeup-free appearance. “A few trolls were a bit shocked by my gray hair, who maybe hadn’t seen me since I was 24, and then went, ‘Oh my God, that’s what you end up looking like,’” the 68-year-old told the outlet. “Why do we feel we’ve got to pretend that we’re still 40 when we’re 68?”
Ward appeared to be referring to a December 2025 video she shared to Instagram, after which some commenters said she looked “ravaged” and “very ill,” while another wrote, “WHAT HAPPENED TO U DEAR GOD SHOCKING.”
Finding Contentment in Later Life
“It took me a long time to feel that I had value as a woman,” she explained. “I’m so past caring about what people think about one’s appearance or age. I love this part of life. I’m more content now than I’ve ever been.”
After “The Thorn Birds” catapulted her to fame, Ward worked regularly as an actor throughout much of the 1980s and ’90s, with appearances in “Against All Odds” and “Wide Sargasso Sea,” among other projects. Ward doesn’t appear to have retired from acting completely. In 2022, she appeared as the voice of a GPS system on the Australian comedy “Darby and Joan.” Last year, she directed two episodes of the series. Still, she said she finds the film and television industries’ emphasis on physical appearance and sex appeal “empty” and “unsatisfying.”
Rejecting Societal Pressure
“That whole harping … that we still have to be sexual beings is terrifying,” she told ABC. “To have to have our bums lifted and our breasts lifted and our faces drawn back. It just becomes grotesque. All I can say is that it’s great to put that behind you, how you should look and be.”
Ward shared similar sentiments in a cheeky video posted to Instagram in January, joking she’d “ran my hands through my hair” that day in an effort to appear presentable on-camera. She went on to note that she felt “more fulfilled than ever” at this stage of her life. “Well, I’m not youthful, but I’m a very happy camper. and later years are to be exalted and welcomed,” she said. “They have so many other gifts to bestow, but you have no idea what they are until you get there.”
That post drew the praise of some of Ward’s one-time Hollywood peers, including “Titanic” actor Frances Fisher and actor Lesley Ann Warren of “Clue” and “Secretary” fame. “Great to see you, beautiful Rachel!” Fisher wrote, while Warren added, “Just beautiful…inside and out. Thank you.”
