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Apparently Winning After Your 50s Looks Different

5 min readSep 12, 2026

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Picture credits: Salma Hayek

At 58, Salma celebrated her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit appearance with a birthday selfie in a bikini from a yacht. When she turned 59, she posted again on her Instagram in a red bikini, at sunset, cheering us all with a drink. Being not too far behind Salma in years, I wanted to cheer her right back. So I was curious when September came to see what she would do now that she’s turning 60. Well, darling. She posted. But not the red bikini.

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Screenshot from Salma Hayek’s Instagram.

Instead, Salma shared lovely pictures of herself enjoying a swim in the ocean, au naturel. Which is a rather spectacular response to turning 60.

And it got me thinking about what people expect from women as they age. Not just whether we will be seen, but how we are expected to be seen. Whether it’s how we are supposed to look, or how we’re supposed to behave, women have lived by a set of rules which govern what ageing looks like – and winning is judged by observers, not the participant.

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Kirstine Stewart
Kirstine Stewart

Written by Kirstine Stewart

Best selling author and recovering media and tech exec. The most valuable thing I’ve learned is that what got you here - won’t get you where you need to be next