Hollywood needs to respect age, says Jennifer, 48
SHE is hardly at the veteran stage of a Helen Mirren or a Meryl Streep. But at 48, Jennifer Aniston clearly feels she is in danger of being seen as past it.
The Friends star hit out at Hollywood for not ‘honouring and respecting ageing’. She said it seems like there is an ‘expiry date’ in the film industry.
Miss Aniston, who earned £19.8million in the past year, pointed to Dame Helen, 72, and Miss Streep, 68, as actresses who defy the industry’s obsession with youth.
‘Just because you can’t bounce a penny off your tummy any more, because you’re not 22 or 32, doesn’t mean that should quantify what makes you relevant and interesting,’
she told Glamour magazine. ‘We have a generation of actors who were up-and-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.
‘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, the industry does not respect ageing, Miss Aniston added. ‘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 no sense.’
‘We have to change our perspective’