Rita Wilson on Posing Barefaced for PEOPLE: 'If Nobody Wore Makeup, We'd Be in the Same World'

Rita Wilson has gained a new perspective in recent months.

After recovering from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) alongside husband Tom Hanks, the 63-year-old actress and singer, who released her album Halfway to Home last year, knows now more than ever that true beauty comes from “simple acts of kindness.”

“When people are leaning out of windows and clapping for the healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, cafeteria workers and all those people exiting from the hospitals, that is beautiful to me,” Wilson tells PEOPLE in this week’s Beautiful Issue, where she posed makeup-free alongside stars like Sarah Paulson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek.

The multi-hyphenate star adds: “The things that we have associated before with beauty, which are sometimes the superficial things, those will always be there. But I think there’s something about seeing the beauty in the everyday occurrences that you may not have paid attention to before.”

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While many young women discover makeup through their mom, Wilson tells PEOPLE that she only ever started wearing it because the modeling agency she worked with as a teenager set her up with a glam squad. In fact, the actress says her mom, “never really wore makeup.”

Watch the full episode of The Beautiful Issue: Barefaced Beauties streaming now on PeopleTV.com, or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.

“I got really used to her face without makeup. And I think that there’s something beautiful about that,” she says. “Really if nobody wore makeup then we’d all be in the same world.”

Wilson first wowed fans with her no-makeup look when she posted a video of herself flawlessly rapping to Naughty by Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray” on Instagram. She later joined forces with the group for a remix of the song to raise money for the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Now that she and her husband are back home in Los Angeles — the couple returned to the U.S. on March 27 after quarantining for two weeks in Australia — Wilson has been keeping her beauty regimen super simple.

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“I love going to bed at night and not having to do a whole routine of taking off eye makeup with a remover and scrub” she says. “It’s a little bit easier just getting into bed… I wash my face and I put on whatever moisturizer is near me.”

And when it comes to self-care during this especially stressful time, Wilson says allowing her body to rest and staying connected to friends and family via FaceTime is key.

“We’re really trying to take things one day at a time and do our own part to help where we can,” she says.