L’Oréal Paris has just announced the exciting news that Céline Dion is becoming their newest celebrity spokeswoman – starting with a new hair colour campaign.
Fans naturally have gone wild for the announcement, because, well, who doesn’t love her?
Céline’s given us countless songs to get us through bad break-ups, and her voice has said to have inspired every famous name from Beyonce to Britney so it seems only natural for L’Oréal to have signed up the empowering star to front their future beauty campaigns.
But apparently it wasn’t such an obvious move to Céline herself.
“I never saw that coming, especially at 51 years old,” she says.
In an industry where 20-somethings are the usual choice for faces of cosmetic brands, it’s easy to see why she could assume that featuring an older model would be surprising.
L’Oréal, however, pride themselves on representing real women – whether that’s through age, skin tone or gender – and Céline is set to join their hall of fame with the likes of Dame Helen Mirren, Jane Fonda and Duckie Thot.
“I want everyone to feel that they have the right to express themselves, whether it is through fashion and beauty, by using their voice or through something else that’s important to them,” she says.
“The world is changing, and L’Oréal Paris is part of that in a positive way since the brand is telling women that there is nothing wrong in realizing their dreams and speaking their mind.
“I hope that I can elevate this conversation. I feel that at this stage in my life, I now have a voice.”
Not that anyone would say she’s lacking a voice.
With five Grammy awards under her belt, 26 studio albums and four number one hits – including the tear-jerking My Heart Will Go On (and cue mental image of young Leonardo DiCaprio) – the Canadian-born singer is nothing short of a living legend.
“I feel empowered when I look at my life and my career. I used to be an artist who needed to prove things to the industry and I have worked very hard my whole life,” she says, looking back at her near 30-year career.
“But now that I am doing it for myself and with passion, it gives me so much inner confidence. For the last couple of years, I have grown in a very strong and happy way through my passions, my work, friendship, motherhood.
“I am now embracing myself and feel free to do what I want, where I want, when I want.”