Donna Mills, 85, Claps Back at ‘Too Much Makeup’ Comment—and Fans Can’t Get Enough

At 85, Donna Mills is not interested in anyone’s rulebook on how she should look. When a commenter told the Knots Landing star she wears “too much makeup for your age,” Mills turned it into a sharp, confident rebuttal—and her fans showed up in full force.

Mills posted an Instagram Reel on April 5 responding to the remark, and rather than simply ignore it, she turned it into a viral moment that quickly captured attention on social media. The actress used humor and her signature confidence to deliver a pointed message about personal style that deeply resonated with women everywhere.

Donna Mills’ viral Instagram video responds to a makeup critic

In the clip, Mills appears wearing a black leather jacket, a black tank top, blue jeans and her hair styled in blonde curls with a mauve-colored eyeshadow look. She jokes that she “didn’t get the memo” about toning things down.

The video then cuts to Mills dressed in a gray bun, white blouse with a high neckline, wire-rimmed glasses and a pearl necklace—as she asks, “Did you want me to look like this?”

Her final message: “Sorry, not sorry. I like the way I look. This is my style, and style doesn’t have an expiration date.”

She added in the caption: “I said what I said 🤍 #style #aging #makeup #clapback #armchairwarrior.”

Why Donna Mills’ style message resonated with women

Mills’ response tapped into something many women feel: the frustration of being told they should change how they present themselves because of their age. Her confident delivery gave the moment real staying power, and the comments section was flooded with support from women who related to her stand. The overwhelming response reflected a broader cultural shift—audiences are rallying around women who define their own terms rather than bending to outdated expectations about how they should look or dress.

“Donna you’re fabulous and look fantastic! Don’t ever listen to the trolls,” one person said.

“I love this… you can’t please everyone. As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters. Whoever made that comment is definitely not happy with the way they look,” another person said.

“Your makeup has been stunning since the 80s please don’t ever change!” one fan wrote.

Donna Mills’ vineyard life with partner Larry Gilman

Mills’ confidence extends well beyond her beauty routine. The actress, who starred on Knots Landing as Abby Cunningham from 1980 to 1989, has built a life that reflects the same bold independent streak. She and her partner of over two decades, Larry Gilman, started Mandeville Vineyards—a crop of grapes located in her backyard in Los Angeles to make wine. While speaking with Woman’s World in an August 2024 cover story, Mills said planting the vineyard from the ground up was “very fulfilling.”

“I go up there to the vineyard, which is right behind my house up on the hill, and I’m there in another dimension,” she said. “I weed. There’s trimming. There’s affixing the vines to the wire to make them grow up straight. I do that for hours and hours.”

“I never would have thought that I would be so farmer-ish that I don’t mind the bugs, I don’t mind the bees, there’s snakes up there and none of that bothers me,” Mills added. “I tend to adjust to it all. It’s a wonderful thing. I’m so grateful that I have it.”

Donna Mills offers best advice for her younger self

When asked what advice she would give to her younger self, Mills kept it practical—the same no-nonsense approach she has brought to everything from her career to that viral video. The actress, who has navigated the highs and lows of a long Hollywood career alongside raising her daughter, Chloe, shared wisdom rooted in persistence and taking the pressure off. Her message is simple and clear: do everything you can, stop stressing about the outcome and never give up.

“I think of my daughter, Chloe, and what I’d say to her. I would probably say don’t stress about making it,” she said. “If you are doing everything that you can do to get there, you will. But if you stress about it, it doesn’t help you. So I wouldn’t have stressed about it all in my younger career.”

“I was lucky in that I got some really good breaks, but it’s not that I never thought I would ever work again or ever get a job…there were those periods. I got some good advice years ago from a family member and it was never give up, keep trying and do things well.”

Whether it’s her makeup or her career, Mills’ approach is refreshingly simple: show up as yourself and skip the apology.