Yes, yes, Miriam Margolyes! What a national treasure – topless at 82

If you're a millennial, like me, then Miriam Margolyes will be synonymous with the character Professor Sprout of Harry Potter film fame. But in the last few years she’s entrenched her position as a subversive national treasure and feminist icon. Her candid, sweary and no-nonsense approach to celebrity is a tonic to modern culture, and one which I’m thoroughly grateful for. From farting on This Morning to saying, “F*** you, bastard” about Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt live on the Today programme, the 82-year-old is constantly challenging society’s expectations of how a woman in the spotlight should behave.

Yesterday British Vogue dropped their “Pride & Joy” July issue featuring a trio of “LGBTQ+ pioneers”. Amongst them is none other than Margolyes. The British-Australian actor posed topless, with Chelsea buns cheekily covering her nipples. In an accompanying interview, she spoke about her sexuality, saying "I like being gay. I wouldn’t want to be straight for anything.” Margolyes has been with her civil partner Heather Sutherland for 54 years, and through living separately, feels that they are “able to lead our lives without diminishing them,” adding: “I wanted my cake and I wanted to eat it too. And so far, it’s worked.”

The shoot and interview stirred something in me. I felt soothed, inspired, and optimistic for my future self; reassured that aging can be fun, and that we, as women, do not have to become invisible on our 50th birthday. There are very few older women in the public-eye, and even fewer who don’t subscribe to what society wants them to be – matronly, covered-up and quiet. Margolyes, on this cover, is saying a very-on-brand “f*** off” to these expectations. I’m not alone in my feelings, with Twitter echoing these sentiments: “God we are so lucky to be alive at the same time as Miriam Margolyes”, said one user; “Miriam Margolyes taking over British Vogue during Pride Month is just what the world needs right now,” said another.

The images are inherently body-positive and historic. Ten years ago I could not have imagined a queer, plus-size woman in her eighties posing topless for the cover of British Vogue. Under Edward Enninful’s editorship, the publication is representing people who are often excluded from mainstream media.

Margolyes, in the interview, takes a neutral approach to her body, saying “I think my face is kind and warm and open and smiley. But I hate my body. I hate big tits [and I have] a drooping belly, little twisted legs. I’m not thrilled with that. But you just make the best of it. You have to. You do the best you can." She is subtly, but powerfully, separating her worth from her appearance; a body is just a body, it cannot be good or bad, it can only be. You may hate parts of your appearance, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong, or need changing. Body-positivity can feel like a pipedream for many, something unachievable, but this strain of body-neutrality is much more tangible. Margolyes exists in a way that feels free from patriarchal thinking, and seems unphased by archaic beauty ideals. I hope, at 82, I’m afforded even an ounce of her spirit.