Jane Kenney

Katie Couric recently went totally makeup-free for PEOPLE Magazine's 'Beautiful' Issue. Fans are seeing Couric like never before as she's usually all done up with makeup and hair looking perfect. When she was first asked to go makeup-free for the issue, she had one reaction: "Are you out of your mind? Hell no," she remembers. After some serious thought, though, the 64-year-old thought, "Why not?" and decided to bare all. "Doing a shoot without makeup, makes you feel both liberated and vulnerable," she says. "You feel great because you're being true to who you are and how you look. It's a huge dose of reality! On the other hand, let's face it, people feel prettier when they have some makeup on that enhances their features. So I think doing a shoot like this requires a lot of trust." Katie Couric embraces her makeup-free, all-natural beauty View this post on Instagram A post shared by Katie Couric (@katiecouric) Couric says she feels proud to be able to embrace her natural beauty and encourages women of all ages to do the same. "When we start seeing women as they age and appreciate the beauty that comes with that, women will stop trying to look young all the time," she explains. "Someone said to me, 'I have so many wrinkles.' I said, 'I think wrinkles show a lifetime of laughing and smiling.' And that's an awesome thing to show on your face." RELATED: Dolly Parton Never Goes Without Makeup In Case Of An Emergency Now in her mid-60s, Couric says she has an "interesting" relationship with makeup and says she doesn't do "the full spackle treatment" anymore. "If you wear too much, it's really aging. If you wear none, it's terrifying. You just have to wear the right amount to enhance yourself but not to cover up who you are... Now people are saying to me, 'We don't like you with all that makeup anymore!' I think people appreciate showing the real you." She encourages all women of all ages to embrace their natural self View this post on Instagram A post shared by Katie Couric (@katiecouric) Nowadays, Couric's makeup routine really just comes down to the essentials. "Mascara makes a world of difference," Couric explains. "My eyelashes are pretty light and my eyes kind of disappear when I don't have mascara on. L'Oréal mascara from CVS is my go-to." In terms of her daughters, Elinor, 30, and Caroline, 25, she tries not to focus too much on appearance with them. "Sometimes I'm neurotic about the way I look. I try not to say, 'I feel fat or look fat in this.' It's such a bad example for your kids. I haven't been perfect and I don't think I've always been great about that, but I tried to balance that focus," she says. "Girls are so much more than their packaging." 09 February 2020 - Los Angeles, California - Katie Couric. 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Photo Credit: Birdie Thompson/AdMedia The iconic journalist adds, "I always had to stop myself from saying to my daughters when they were little, 'Oh, you look so pretty.' If I caught myself saying that I'd add, 'And you're so smart.' Girls put so much emphasis on their appearance and it diminishes their intelligence and their competence and their contributions." https://www.youtube.com/watch?vLQyp5_stn-c