JAMIE LEE CURTIS
How the Scream Queens star has reinvented herself yet again.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Jamie Lee Curtis’ breakout movie, 1978’s Halloween, cast her as a plucky woman who miraculously survives the onslaught of a serial killer. While the 57-year-old actress hasn’t faced any knifewielding maniacs, she has endured her fair share of real-life slings and arrows, and she’s still standing strong. “No matter what happens to Jamie Lee, she is so resilient, she can take it,” David Grove, author of Jamie Lee Curtis: Scream Queen, tells Closer. “She’ll always survive — nothing can stop her.”
Seemingly born into the lap of luxury as the daughter of Hollywood stars Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee actually experienced a difficult childhood. “She often felt left out or ignored,” says a friend. “And when her father left home when she was 3, she felt in some way responsible.” Sent to a private school in Connecticut, “She had a horrible time,” says Grove, revealing that she was bullied for being Jewish.
After following in her parents’ famous footsteps, she developed a problem with substance abuse. Earlier this year, she came clean about how she beat an addiction to prescription drugs, which were initially given to her after she had a medical procedure: “I am one of the lucky ones as I have been in recovery for opiate addiction for over 17 years.”
Along life’s rocky road, she’s been supported by her husband of 32 years, comedic film- maker Christopher Guest (Best in Show), 68, and their two kids: dance teacher daughter Annie, 29, and son Thomas, 20. “The most rewarding aspect of parenting is seeing my children do anything that they’re proud of,” says Jamie Lee. As for Christopher, he bursts with pride for his wife: When she ran her first 5K race, “My sweet husband rode his bike to be there with me [at the finish],” she gushes.
Professionally, Jamie Lee has reinvented herself many times, transforming into a comic actress (Trading Places), an action star (True Lies) and a children’s book author (she published her newest tome, This Is Me, in September). “Trying something new and challenging yourself is what life’s all about,” she says. Now she’s come full circle, starring in Fox’s horror comedy Scream Queens, which recently returned for a second season. After she was cast, she says, “I woke up weeping at this moment in my life. I’m so, so deeply grateful.” And she’s far from finished. “I’m a middle-aged woman who’s changing,” she says. “Life is not supposed to be this calcified experience where you don’t change.” — Bruce Fretts,
with reporting by Darla Murray
“I’ve always put my family first, and that’s just the way it is.” — Jamie Lee