Andie MacDowell was "afraid" to attend the Cannes Film Festival after having a baby.

The 66-year-old star has been a fixture at the famous event on the French Riviera for several years but confessed that she chose not to go back in 1989 following the birth of her son Justin Qualley, 38, as she was worried about how her appearance would be perceived.

Andie told People: "I didn't come (to Cannes) for (promotion of the film) 'Sex, Lies and Videotape'. I just had a baby. I was afraid.

"I was, nursing, was really big and just motherly and whatever, and I didn't come. And that's a shame. It's a real shame."

The 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' actress believes it was seen as acceptable to be "cruel to women" in the spotlight at the time but lauded the "shift in our expectations" that means she would have no hesitation if she was in a similar position today.

Andie - who also has actress daughters Rainey Qualley, 35, and Margaret Qualley, 29, from her marriage to former husband Paul Qualley - said: "Because of the shift in our expectations and because we brought it out, they can't be like that anymore.

"Now I embrace my womanly body. I think it's very sexy. But I think we couldn't feel sexy about ourselves because they were telling us that we weren't.

"We've claimed it, and we've taken it back and we've said, 'But this is what it is to be a woman. We're not girls, we're women.'"

MacDowell has embraced getting older by keeping her hair grey and explained that she was "afraid" to commit to the style choice until the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020.

She said: "I finally got the courage during COVID when I saw it with my own eyes and my skin colour. Once it was growing out, I could see what the colour was going to be like, and I really loved it. I knew it was time."