We can have lovers at 60, not just knit, says Oscar-tipped actress
LESLEY Manville has insisted women can ‘have a lover at 60’, and do not have to be ‘shoved in a corner in a cardigan doing knitting’.
The 61-year-old actress, who has received Oscar and Bafta nominations for her performance in Phantom Thread, insisted that she is happier in her older age.
She did not disclose whether she has been in a relationship since her marriage to Darkest Hour star Gary Oldman ended in 1990, but she said she was pleased to see a change in film and TV towards portraying older women ‘having a sex life’.
She told Radio Times: ‘It’s OK to be 60. You can have a lover at 60. You don’t have to be shoved in a corner in a cardigan doing knitting.’
At the launch of the second series of BBC Two sitcom Mum, in which she e plays a woman n attempting to move e on from her husband’s s- death, she e added: ‘I think it’s getting better for older women.
‘The distributors s of films, they realise - there’s a huge e market for an audience of women over 40 who want to go and see things that deal with their lives.’ She went on to praise stars such as Meryl Streep, Dame Helen Mirren and Annette Bening for how they portray ‘sexually active’ and ‘attractive’ older women.
She added: ‘They’re just saying, “We’re playing these women who are in their 60s and 70s and yes they’re still attractive and they’re still having a sex life and … they want all the things that people stereotypically think that a woman over 50 is not going to want any more.” ’
Her nomination for best supporting actress for her role in Phantom Thread is her first Oscar nod. She and Oldman – with whom she has a son, Alfie, now 29 – will be going head-tohead in the best picture category, c for Phantom Thread and Darkest Hour respectively. Asked if there would w be any awkwardness, she said: ‘They’re both pretty marvellous films … I doubt there th will be fisticuffs on the red re carpet.’