“[Grace Jones] drinks her wine through a straw so as not to mess up her lips. Does she think she has changed over the years? “Of course I’ve changed. I’m not as impatient as I used to be. I used to hit people if I didn’t like what they were saying. Just lash out. Bam – shut up! Hahahah! I was terrible.”

But physically Grace Jones is remarkably unchanged. She has not had plastic surgery, and never will. “Absolutely not. I would not cut myself.” Her hair is greying a little at the sides, but that’s the only giveaway. Will she ever look like an old woman? “No. No. My mom is 80 and doesn’t have a line.””

That excerpt comes from Simon Hattenstone’s phenomenal interview with Grace Jones. Click to read it, you won’t regret it. In the interview, Grace touches on her Jamaican upbringing, reveals the inspiration for My Jamaican Guy, and shares her feelings about her contemporary copycats (IE: Lady Gaga. “I’d just prefer to work with someone who is more original and someone who is not copying me, actually.”)

Much respect and Afrobella love to Grace Jones. She remains the very definition of fierce. If you want to channel some of that energy, get yourself a Grace tee from Cut It Out Apparel. And that image above is Andy Warhol’s famous latter period portrait of Grace. You can find that here at EvilMonito.com, at the end of an equally remarkable interview of Grace Jones.

Viva Grace Jones!

Thanks to Laura Dowrich Phillips for providing the inspiration to post about Grace Jones!

COMMENTS

LBell says:

April 17, 2010, 11:56 am

Love love LOVE this woman! I'm not a big believer in role modeling or idol worship but she's both for me. And although I think genetics plays a huge role in her perfect skin (and mine) I can't help but wonder how much omega-3 she's getting from eating all that fish and shellfish. Man...I'm in my mid-40s and can pass for someone in her late-20s...let ME be able to pass for someone in her 30s at age 61! Wow! Thanks for this article.

alicia says:

April 17, 2010, 12:41 pm

And still fierce she is...

shasha says:

April 17, 2010, 4:06 pm

Listening to her album- she was underrated as a singing talent in the country. Her version of "la via en rose" is classic! Although my fave is "I Need A Man!"

Black Honey says:

April 17, 2010, 6:17 pm

“I’ve Seen That Face Before” is my favorite Grace Jones song. I have to admit that going up in rural Alabama in the ‘70s and ‘80s Grace Jones was not a celebrated beauty icon. In fact, it was instilled in me that she was in the definition of ugly. Vanessa Williams and Jayne Kennedy were beautiful. The light skin women with wavy hair were beautiful. Grace Jones was not. Since I was closer to Jones on the scale, I took it to mean I was ugly too. It wasn’t until I had moved away from AL that I began to appreciate different types of beauty. One day I really looked at a photograph of Grace Jones and realized that she was spectacular: that skin, those cheekbones, those eyes. Was I blind before? I think people are now realizing that she was not only a performance legend but she remains a legendary beauty. Thanks so much for linking those Grace Jones interviews.

Vonmiwi says:

April 17, 2010, 9:44 pm

Icon! Icon! Icon! And a Living Legend! The cheek bones are to die for! She tore the house down at last years Montreux Jazz Festival and at this years Victor and Rolf show. I guess with the fashion industry's excessive pursuit of youth they want to ignore her, but I didn't care for the VOGUE article that compared her to copying Lady Gaga because she is not copying Lady Gaga at all, it's vice versa. Just give credit to where it's due and stop denying who the real trendsetters are.

Vonmiwi says:

April 17, 2010, 9:57 pm

@ Black Honey I grew up in Louisiana after moving to this country and after seeing Grace Jones in my first Essence magazine I was hooked! My Mom was my first beauty icon and so were the women in our community. At a time the full spectrum of black beauty was not even celebrated by our own to include much of the black media. Not in our home, our ancestry was celebrated and not denied. No one can deny the beauty of any black woman but us and I refuse to. I've got to give it to Essence magazine because in the 70's they changed the game of how black beauty was viewed and Black Pride was rampant all across the USA.

This Time Now says:

April 18, 2010, 5:33 am

She is a force of nature. Just watched a couple of her interviews thanks to your post. Felicia This Time Now

Dasheen Magazine says:

April 21, 2010, 12:34 pm

Someone kinda said, but i must reiterate - Grace Jones is the definition of FIERCE!!!

Chata says:

September 9, 2010, 9:44 am

I know this really is actually boring and you're skipping to the next comment, but I just wanted to throw you a big thank you - you cleared up some things for me!

THEMrs.Oh says:

April 11, 2011, 11:57 am

OMG! I love her. I'm only 15 but this woman is so beautiful to me and is my Idol. I wish we could all embrace beauty that is her beauty and stop being so one track minded of how black woman are supposed to look. She's absolutely lovely.