5 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT ME
THE ACTRESS OPENS UP ABOUT MARRIAGE, HER FAVORITE ROLE AND TAKING ON NEW CHALLENGES
I’VE ALWAYS STOOD OUT “I was this tall when I was 11,” says Sigourney, 71, who stands at 6 feet. Though she was born Susan Weaver, she adopted Sigourney, the name of a character in the novel The Great Gatsby, at age 14. “I just didn’t like being called Susie.”
I’VE BEEN MARRIED FOR 37 YEARS She wed stage director Jim Simpson in 1984, and they have one daughter, Charlotte, 30. “I’ve always believed what they say in the psychology magazines — that whatever is wrong with your current relationship, you’ll reexperience it in the next one,” Sigourney says. “So why not stick with this great guy who you found and work things out with him?”
I’M AN AVID CONSERVATIONIST Playing gorilla researcher Dian Fossey in 1988’s Gorillas in the Mist was a life-changing experience. “It was the closest thing to absolute joy that I’ve ever felt on the planet — just to be with [the baby gorillas],” she says. “They’re so grounded, compared to us.”
I CAN HOLD MY BREATH FOR SIX MINUTES For her upcoming role in Avatar 2, Sigourney trained with elite military divers so that she could hold her breath for long periods of time underwater. “I don’t really say to myself, ‘Well, you can’t do this.' Or, 'You can't do that.' [It's more] let met at it! And we’ll see.”
I LIKE TO WRITE MY OWN DIALOGUE She created an exaggerated — and hysterical — designer-clad version of herself for the Netflix comedy Call My Agent! “I often have…input,” says the Yale-educated actress. “That’s both the advantage and the disadvantage of working with me.”