Jennifer Coolidgeappreciates good art.
TheWhite Lotusstar, 60, who took art classes in college, was game to demonstrate her skills with a male model for PEOPLE’s The Beautiful Issue.
“I just want to thank you for supplying me with one of the most handsome, almost-naked men,” she jokes. “He ended up being this incredibly charming, nice guy, too. It was like a storybook. Now I’m like, how could I create that scenario again?”
Coolidge, who is currently filming thesecond installment of the hit HBO Max seriesin Italy, says the experience just might inspire her to pick up painting again.
“It’s sort of a great way to meet somebody, you know what I mean?” she says. “Like they don’t have a lot of clothes on, and it takes a long time to paint.”
Jennifer Coolidge.Anders Overgaard

Even though Coolidge didn’t actually have any paint on her brush for the shoot, “I was pretending to paint his eyes, and it took forever,” she says.
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“And I was thinking, if you had to do a four- or five-hour sitting of painting someone, you really get to know them,” she adds. “And you would know a lot of what you were getting because it would all be out there. It would be such a great way to meet someone.”
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“I did it in college, too, but this was far more fun,” Coolidge shares. “I put my hands on the clay and all of a sudden, like three or four spins, something very phallic would just appear out of nowhere. I mean I wouldn’t even be trying. It’s all very seductive.”
As for her own definition of beautiful, Coolidge insists “it’s much broader now.”
“Growing up, it was really about beauty pageants,” she says. “I like that the sky’s the limit now, it’s not this rigid line that we all have to walk. It’s really exciting.”
For more of Coolidge’s exclusive interview and photos, pick up this week’s issue of People on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com