Judy Greer, 46, co-founded a natural supplement line for older women called Wile. It includes products for stress and hot flashes. She did an interview with People Magazine promoting it. Judy talked about how there are more roles for older women now, how she manages stress and how her perspective has changed as she’s gotten older. She said some things which were sadly relatable, particularly about feeling grumpy a lot and about how she’s typically busy all the time. I last saw Judy in Halloween Kills, as Jamie Lee Curtis’s daughter, but she’s one of those actresses you take for granted because she works so much. Here’s some of her People interview.
“When I first started acting, I felt like youth was everything and I was very aware of that. And now I think that the zeitgeist, the consciousness is shifting and we’re all sort of feeling differently about body image. We’re feeling differently about aging. We’re dipping our toe into becoming more expansive with our ideas about what is beautiful and what is worthy,” she muses.
“I feel very lucky to be an actress in my 40s right now because there are great roles for us. There are great directors and writers out there,” Greer says, adding: “And so I think that we’re just getting served better material than those women were when I was in my 20s… There’s a long way to go. Please don’t get me wrong, but it’s a start and I’ll take it.”
“There’s this shift that I started to notice that I was starting to talk to my friends about as we were getting into our 40s that I didn’t [see] being addressed,” she says. “I didn’t feel like there was any products on the market that were there for me specifically and dealing with my needs specifically…
“This is such an interesting time in my life,” Greer adds. “You’re starting to really know yourself and you’re starting to really see what we thought was really important, like being busy all the time, I’m really starting to see that that’s not special. That’s actually a problem.”
I’m going through some stuff now and I think it’s hormonal as well as just general pandemic burnout. I’ve tried various supplements for perimenopause and apart from progesterone cream I don’t think much has helped me. I also worry about side effects, which you have to be concerned about with herbal medication too. That last part she said, about being busy all the time, really hit home for me. There’s always something to do for work or just around the house. It can be overwhelming, particularly at this time of year and at this stage of life. We don’t have to wait for retirement to take a break and we don’t need permission not to work.
Also, one of the reasons Judy might be getting roles is because she has decades of working as a talented and well known character actress. Although it’s changing gradually as she mentioned those supporting roles for older women are in higher supply than leads.
Photos credit: Avalon.red and Instar
Funny how she is now addressing how being busy is detrimental. It has always been detrimental to anyone and everyone! We have a terrible view of work in this country. Other countries value a balanced work-home life. Other countries don’t have the 40 hour work week. Let’s be honest too, it’s never been 40 hours, more like 50-60+ each week depending on your specialty/career. I don’t think I have ever worked only 40 hours, ever!! We place too much value on working and not enough on down time. Luckily the power dynamic has changed. I hope people are able to create better work/pay options than before.
+ 100
Absolutely agree.
I’m not American myself, but having lived in the US I will say that Americans, more than any other people I know, equals being busy with being a successfull, valuable and worthy individual.
Not wanting to grind or constantly be productive, is generally considered being lazy and unaccomplished.
And for people who really have to grind because they have to survive, they are set up to fail and never to enjoy the fruits of their labor. So they’re told they only need to work harder to get out of poverty ect. When in truth, they are set up to fail and exhaust themselves.
I see it where I live aswell, but Americans are really something quite different mentally in this regard.
As a therapist I’ve often referred to America as the country being the most traumatized, it’s in a constant fight/flight mode. Like the country as a whole is afraid it will shut down completely or die if it starts slowing down. Considering American history, it’s no wonder it’s like this. The saddest part though, is that the American economy is built on the same principles. On trauma. Not balance and safety, but rather to constantly retraumatize to have people up and running, fighting for what they can have.
Capitalism in general traumatize by exploiting and manipulating individuals to believe they have to work hard for basic necessities, but that’s another discussion.
Very well put, thanks for adding this. There is such a pressure to hustle, and even when you’re home, be busy packing as much as you can in a day. This last decade I’ve been working a “good” job and people treat me as more successful, but I feel like I’ve been so stressed and busy that my life has gone by so fast, and my family’s lives have zipped by too. Now I’m leaving that job, trying something new, with breathing room, and you wouldn’t believe how upset some people are. They can’t understand how you might give up status to be more free… But life is too short!
Judy is one of my favorite performers, she’s great in everything. I’m glad she’s seeing a positive change and there are more roles for women beyond 40. And that’s due to all the women out there fighting for it, writing and directing and producing, and creating these roles and telling those stories.
The hat really threw me off, I didn’t even recognize her in the header photo.
I listened to Judy Greer’s memoir several years ago (she narrates it) and it made me like her even more. Plus it was a look into how Hollywood really works. I’m glad she’s still getting work, but yes, we all deserve to take a break!
Look at the actresses having “Renaissance’s”. Olivia Coleman, Kathryn Hahn, Jennifer Coolidge, even Jean Smart. I would say it’s easier to age if you started as a character actress than a leading lady.
“We don’t have to wait for retirement to take a break and we don’t need permission not to work”
THIS! In the last few years this sentiment really hit home for me once I stopped assuming I would be healthy and alive until a very old age. The thought of working so hard at something I don’t like just so I can *one day* have enough money saved to stop working, when I have no idea if I’ll be healthy or able-bodied at retirement age. Today, I can garden, I can ride a bike on a spring day, I can play tag with my kids, I can work on a creative project, I can go on a date with my husband. Some of those things I might not be able to do when I’m 60 or 70. I’m never going to regret that I didn’t work through dinnertime more, but I know I would regret not appreciating what my body can do now and the people who are in my life now while I still can.
I’m glad she’s bringing awareness to the health needs of older women but she needs to quit acting like supplements have not been available until she decided to cash in on them.
Side note: The Menopause Manifesto (great book!) is on sale on Amazon Kindle for $1.99.