TV Presenter Debuts ‘Liberating’ Look After Ditching Botox and Going Gray
“There’s nothing wrong with being wrinkly or gray.”
Stephen Hird/Reuters
A 55-year-old TV presenter said she felt “liberated” after ditching Botox and embracing her natural hair color.
Melinda Messenger, a former model and television personality who now works as a psychotherapist in the U.K., dished on her updated beauty routine in the latest issue of Closer Magazine.
![Glamour model Melinda Messenger poses for photographers on a Jordan Formula One racing car before the British Grand Prix, July 13. [Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in his Williams Renault is on pole position for today's race.]](https://media.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/RVMMZVVVNVDZVETKXZTRMKX3UA.JPG?auth=e817528d523d67cb7611566793451f6c969dbbbe98aa54488b32f1def4e02cea&width=800&height=1165&focal=703%2C1024)
Melinda Messenger in 1997 at the British Grand Prix.
Paul Hackett/Reuters
Messenger started embracing her silver hair four years ago, but told the outlet, according to the Daily Mail (to Sam: the original article is in a print issue and not yet online so I’m quoting from the Daily Mail story), that she wished she had done so sooner.
She said her hair was now in the “best condition it’s ever been,” and she was saving “money, time and energy” by not dyeing it.
Melinda Messenger was flooded with feedback after she posted this selfie on Instagram on Oct. 3.
Melinda Messenger/Instagram
Messenger posted a selfie of her current look on Instagram on Oct. 3. Afterward, she was flooded with comments and messages about her luscious silver strands.
“I was really taken aback at the response,” she said. “It was 98 percent positive and so refreshing, with other women telling me about their journeys.”
Melinda Messenger said she felt pressure to look the way she did in her twenties. Pictured here in 1997.
Paul Hackett/Reuters
“It’s a reflection of what’s happening in the wider world. There’s always been a heavy negative connotation around women who age, with a view that you should just look the same,” she said.
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Continuing, “Even for me, being a model in my twenties, you’ve got to look like that forever. But I don’t want to; I’m in my fifties, and I want to be me as I am today!”
Melinda Messenger said actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Pamela Anderson inspired her to embrace her age.
Gilber Carrasquillo/ GC Images;Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images
Messenger said her transformation was inspired by celebrities like Pamela Anderson, 59, who has embraced a makeup-free look since 2023, and actress Sarah Jessica Parker, 61, who has occasionally shown her gray hair on and off the screen since 2022.
“The tide is turning now,” she said. “Women are realizing that we have choices and we can be true to our natural selves. It’s liberating!”
Melinda Messenger walking the runway for Vivienne Westwood during London Fashion Week in 1997.
Shawn Baldwin/Reuters
Messenger also stopped getting Botox injections, and said she was “enjoying seeing how [her] face changes” with time.
Melinda Messenger started growing out her gray hair four years ago.
Melinda Messenger/Instagram
“It’s not to say I don’t have wobbles or insecurities, or worry that people might not find me attractive, but it’s so freeing to say I don’t owe anybody my looks or my appearance,” she said.
Adding, “There’s nothing wrong with being wrinkly or gray; it’s beautiful in its own right!”
Melinda Messenger was called a “tabloid darling” in her modeling days. Posing here for the cameras with the members of the London Leopard basketball team.
Russell Boyce/Reuters
In the caption of her October 3 Instagram post, Messenger wrote about her hair growth journey.
“I know not everyone wants to embrace the natural colour and I get that,” she wrote. “I’ve had many wobbles, used highlights and toners to try and blend it in, and there are no rules, so whatever feels right for you is ok.”
In July 2025, Melinda Messenger posted a photo on Instagram showing her hair. In the caption, she wrote that she was “blending the very top layer with a few highlights twice a year,” and that was “really helping the transition.”
Melinda Messenger/Instagram
She rejoiced in her hair health and the number one benefit she gained from her silver hair journey: “I found real freedom and joy in just letting myself be.”
Messenger wrote that she didn’t blame others for making different choices than hers, but that she was pleased with her journey.
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