Donna Mills, 85, Shuts Down Makeup Shamer With Ageless Confidence

Donna Mills is 85, a TV icon, and not remotely interested in letting a random Instagram comment tell her how to do her face. Someone tried it with a classic: 'You wear too much makeup for your age.' Her response? A tight little Instagram Reel that makes the point better than any Notes app speech ever could.

The clapback, properly executed

The video, posted April 5, is all visual comedy. First, Mills shows up exactly as herself: black leather jacket, black lacey tank, blue jeans, blonde curls, mauve eyeshadow — the whole Donna look, polished and confident. Then she smash-cuts to a costume straight out of a lazy stereotype: gray wig, white button-up, wire-rimmed glasses, pearl necklace. The subtext is not subtle: Is this what you expected me to look like at 85?

'Sorry, not sorry. I like the way I look. This is my style, and style doesn't have an expiration date.'

She captioned it: 'I said what I said 🤍 #style #aging #makeup #clapback #armchairwarrior'

• Posted as an Instagram Reel on April 5
• Look 1: black leather jacket, black lacy tank, blue jeans, blonde curls, mauve eyeshadow
• Look 2: gray wig, white button-up, wire-rimmed glasses, pearl necklace
• Caption: 'I said what I said 🤍 #style #aging #makeup #clapback #armchairwarrior'
• Fan reactions flooded in: 'Donna you're fabulous and look fantastic! Don't ever listen to the trolls' / 'Exactly, what makes you feel good, then let that be you for the world to see and view 👏🔥❤️' / 'You can't please everyone... as long as you're happy that's all that matters' / 'Your makeup has been stunning since the 80s please don't ever change!' / 'I think you look wonderful... I will wear my makeup and I will color my hair til I can't anymore lol'

What she has been up to, besides winning Instagram

Quick refresher: Mills played Abby Cunningham on Knots Landing from 1980 to 1989. Decades later, she has a very un-Hollywood day job that honestly rules. With her partner of more than 20 years, Larry Gilman, she runs Mandeville Vineyards — not in Napa, not in Santa Ynez — literally on the hill behind her Los Angeles home. Grapes in the backyard, wine in the bottle. It started as a passion project and turned into routine, purpose, and (by her description) peace.

In an August 2024 interview, she talked about losing herself in the work: weeding, trimming, even tying vines to the wire so they grow straight — for hours. It clears the noise, it stops the doomscroll, it centers her. You can practically feel the dirt under your nails just hearing her describe it.

The advice she gives her younger self (and still follows)

Thinking of her daughter, Chloe, Mills said she would tell her younger self not to stress about 'making it.' If you are doing everything you can to get there, you will — and stressing does not help. Judging by that Reel, she's still living by that rule. She does her thing, on her terms, and lets the work — and the winged liner — speak for itself.