Catherine Deneuve: ‘I was never a sex symbol’

Catherine Deneuve has declared she was “never a sex symbol”.

The 78-year-old actress opened up about her life and career as she was presented with the Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on Wednesday (31.08.22) and she insisted she felt it was a “challenege” to be attractive despite being considered one of the most beautiful women in the world.

She said: “I was never a sex symbol. You won’t find me in very sexy photos … It was a challenge to be good-looking, but it’s not something which has been too important for me these past few years, of course. And it’s much better to be old in Europe than it is in America, especially as a woman.”

She also gave a modest observation of her 65-year career, insisting: “There was a lot of luck.”

Catherine also dismissed herself being labelled an “icon”, retorting: “No! That’s a word that can be used, but I’m not, no.”

The screen star has been returning to work recently since suffering a stroke in 2019.

She fell ill while filming the movie ‘De Son Vivant’ in France and spent several weeks in hospital before being allowed to return to her home in Paris to continue her recovery.

In the film she plays a mother whose son is dying of cancer, and she since admitted it felt important to go back to set to finish the film after her health scare.

She told Variety: “After my accident, I simply went back on the shoot of Emmanuelle Bercot’s film because it was important for me to finish it; I thought it would bring me some satisfaction.”