Andie MacDowell Says She Laughs When People Say Going Gray Makes Her Look Older: 'I Want to Be Old'

Andie MacDowell says "something happens in our brain" when people think about women with silver hair.

The actress, 64, stopped coloring her hair during the pandemic and said ever since then she has embraced her age — even if some people have not.

"It makes me laugh when someone says it makes me look older," the Four Weddings and a Funeral star told Katie Couric in an interview shared on the journalist's YouTube page. "You know I'm [turning] 65, what do you think, I look 75 just because I let my hair go?"

"But I don't care, I want to be old. I'm tired of trying to be young. I don't want to be young. I've been young. And to be an older person trying to be young, what an effort. That's a lot of effort. I just can't keep up the charade... I can't!" she tells Couric.

When Couric tells the actress how she is "becoming someone who people see as embracing the age she's in and loving the age she's in," MacDowell says life is about choices.

"Even though I may be portraying this person who is really comfortable in her skin or whatever, I don't know, in 10 years I might change my mind. I can't guarantee you, I don't know. I can't tell you how I'm going to feel. We have a lot of options," she says.

Last year, MacDowell spoke with PEOPLE about who inspired her to embrace the gray.

"My sister's full-on silver and she's only 18 months older than me. I thought she looked so much more beautiful being silver. I was jealous," she said.

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"During COVID, I could see the roots with my face and with my skin and my eyes, and I liked it. I felt that I would be happier. And I am happier. I really like it," she continues. "I'm 64, and this is the time of my life. Eventually, I'm going to be silver. And I wanted to have this experience of feeling what it is."

Though she told PEOPLE it's a "constant daily job" to be kinder to herself, she's getting more successful each day. "Aging is a really, really intimate educator on loving yourself," she says, "because you can't stop it. It's going to happen."

The actress says her daughters, actresses Rainey Qualley, 32, and Margaret Qualley, 27, whom she shares with ex-husband Paul Qualley, remind her not to be so hard on herself. "If I ever say anything demeaning about myself, because I've taught them not to do that, they'll say, 'Why are you doing what you told us not to do?'" says MacDowell, who also has a son, Justin Qualley, 36.