One of Hollywood’s all-time iconic sex symbols has gone on the record urging today’s women to embrace a natural tan and to shun overzealous sun scare.

“I think we should all spend some time in the sunshine. There’s a lot of Vitamin D and it makes you feel good,” Raquel Welch told World Entertainment News this week, giving advice to today’s Hollywood generation to stop obsessing about blocking every bit of sun to protect skin from aging. “You’ve got to live your life and not worry about how you’re going to age. It’s just too much,” she said.

Welch’s statement hits home, especially after actress Gwyneth Paltrow — who for years was the poster-child of cosmetic dermatology’s push to keep everyone out of the sun — revealed last year that sun avoidance made her severely vitamin D deficient and that she no longer considers it healthy to stay out of the sun. Those of us who understand the important role regular sun exposure plays in healthy living replied with a resounding, “Duh!”

“I suffered a pretty severe Tibial plateau fracture a few years ago (requiring surgery) which lead the orthopedic surgeon to give me a bone scan, at which point it was discovered I had the beginning stages of osteopenia,” Paltrow wrote in her weekly blog. “This led my western/eastern doctors in New York to test my Vitamin D levels, which turned out to be the lowest they had ever seen (not a good thing). I went on a prescription strength level of Vitamin D and was told to spend a bit of time in the sun!” Paltrow even posted the link to a pro-sun column written by her physician, Dr. Frank Lipman, founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City.

Bottom line: Alabaster white skin isn’t in anymore. Sensible moderation is coming back.

To read the World Entertainment News story about Welch click here.