Life doesn’t stop after 50, Aniston says
Jennifer Aniston has criticized the lack of interest in actresses as they age.
The 48-year-old star has enjoyed a celebrated career in Hollywood after finding fame in ’90s TV show Friends, and insists getting older is only enriching her life.
However, in an interview with Glamour magazine, the actress is critical of the common narrative in society, and Hollywood in particular, which elevates the contributions of younger people over older ones.
“Just because you can’t bounce a penny off your tummy anymore, because you’re not 22 or 32, doesn’t mean that should quantify what makes you relevant and interesting,” she insisted. “We have a generation of actors who were upand-coming before the Internet existed. We’re all still here, and we’re doing just fine.
“So maybe we’ll, hopefully, be setting the example of ‘this is what it looks like.’ Look at Helen Mirren: Rock star, gorgeous, goddess. Meryl Streep, stunning, a rock star, gorgeous, goddess. All of the stories, there’s so many stories that are there to be told.”
The actress, who married actor/ screenwriter Justin Theroux in 2015, added she is excited by the prospect of life as she ages and struggles to understand why society stops being interested in older, experienced people.
“I think we have to change our perspective. I don’t think life stops after 50 — if anything, it gets more and more exciting. For some reason, we don’t honour or pay respect to ageing. It’s something that we look at as a negative, and yet every single person on this planet does it.
“I don’t understand why it’s not something that’s celebrated, why there’s some sort of an expiration date on who you are as a person worth watching and a story being told about you.
“It makes absolutely no sense,” she said with a sigh. WENN