Mountain Girl: Documentary Short Film About Aging Gracefully

Don't give up on anything. I've had a lot of obstacles in my life, spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationships, businesses. And the key is to just don't let them get you down. I had COVID four times and I thought, oh, okay, I'm done. I'm just old and I'll just sit around and wait to die. And then I went, no, that's not me. And so I made a conscious effort to say, okay, what would make me happy right now? And that's what I did. My name is Diane and I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1944. I spent most of my life in Colorado, which makes me a mountain girl. When I was young, I did not consider myself to be pretty. I was tall and skinny and had a weird hairdo. But the same thing happened to me three times. Someone would come to me and say I have heavy models and take me to a modeling agency. And that's how I ended up being a model. In 1970, I landed a Vogue cover and two Bazaar covers in Italy, which kind of put me on the map over there. I loved modeling. I loved the traveling and learn a little bit of each language and how those people thought and lived. I bought some land in Aspen and I would go back and forth. I'd spend a week in Aspen and three weeks in Paris. When I was working on my land, I would be digging trenches. I lived in a tent. I wore overalls all the time, no makeup. And then I would fly off to Paris and be doing Vogue covers and having, you know, surrounded by stylists and hairdressers and makeup artists and photographers. So it was kind of surreal. Eventually, after 20 years of modeling or so, I just lost interest. I needed something new. I met a man in Aspen and he moved with me to Paris and we started an antique business there. And to this day, I still deal in antiques. In 1983, I had my first and only child. My daughter is very successful and I go to Denver often and visit her. In my 60s, I started to have female problems. It was cancer. It was very scary, but I made it. I think most of my fears in my older years are about the freedom to be who I am and do what I want to do. And anything that limits that scares me. I used to volunteer a lot. I used to work with homeless people in the Bowery when it was about as rough a place as you could find. I can't do those things anymore physically. So instead of donating my time, I donate money. Not a lot, but what I can afford when I can afford it. No matter what you're going through, don't give up on life. Don't think you're old and all your good years are gone. And plan well because you may live longer than you think. Life didn't stop when I retired and it didn't stop when I got cancer. It didn't stop when I had COVID four times and I'm still enjoying my life. In fact, I'm enjoying my life a lot more than certain other ages. One of my big joys is just driving my RV around in the mountains and stopping wherever I want and enjoying the scenery and visiting friends. Nature is my best medicine. I love hiking. I love skiing. I like to go out dancing. I'm often the first one to get out there dancing. I'm kind of known for it. There's always something you can do to enjoy life. When I was about 20, somehow I ended up in a very low budget horror film. It was called Manos, The Hands of Fate. I thought it was safely buried because it was so bad. 40 years later, all of a sudden it became a cult sensation as the worst movie ever made. For years people believed that I died in a fiery car crash right after the movie, but then somebody found me. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed being a part of the resurgence of Manos. You never know what happens next.