Linda Hamilton, 69, has a new interview with AARP to promote her role in season five of Stranger Things. She was invited to be on the show, she plays a scientist, and she was floored at the offer but gladly accepted. In 2019 I covered a NY Times interview with Hamilton ahead of Terminator: Dark Fate. She very plainly addressed the fact that she has aged. She said “Of course people are going to look at me and go ‘Oh she got old.’ Yes I did and I have so much more to say as a strong, experienced, life-ridden woman.” Right on. Hamilton moved to Virginia about 15 years ago to care for her elderly parents and then left for New Orleans after they passed. She describes herself as a minimalist who goes with the flow. She also sounds content to not get botox, fillers or plastic surgery like so many other actresses.
You’ve said you want to own your age. What does that mean to you?
I do not spend a moment trying to look younger on any level, ever. I have just completely surrendered to the fact that this is the face that I’ve earned. And it tells me so much. And sometimes it’s stuff I don’t want to hear…I don’t chase beauty, and I don’t chase longevity particularly. I’m fully planted in the moment, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try to be healthy. But not all the time — sometimes it is just a jelly donut. I’m not rigid, which is a fantastic way to get older. I’ve always said that rigidifying is what kills us: the rigid thoughts and the sort of not moving. I’ve tried very hard in my life to stay as fluid as possible. One definition of happiness is being in the middle of a fast-moving river and not trying to swim to the left or the right side. And that, truly, is kind of what my life has been. It’s been a great, fun ride.
Do you remember who gave you the best advice and what it was?
My daughter [Josephine, 32, with second ex-husband, filmmaker James Cameron], when she was maybe 6 years old, we were visiting my parents in Maryland. And I got up from a nice little nap and my mom said, “Josephine and I were talking, and we were talking about beauty, and Josephine said, ‘My mom is beautiful and you want to know why?’” And my mother said, “Why do you think?” And she said, “Because her face is filled with joy.” So I have actually used that as my definition of beauty ever since. And I work on the joy.You’re video chatting with me from New Orleans. Is this your home base now?
It’s the only place I have. I try to keep things simple. I have one credit card. I literally try to keep my life so that I can do it and not have to find things and worry about things and not be able to track things. So I’m a bit of a minimalist that way.Do you have any regrets?
No. That doesn’t mean that I’m not sad about some of my behaviors in the past, when I was young and out of control and very mentally ill. [In 2004, Hamilton publicly revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression.] Yeah, there are those regrets. And I certainly have been making up for it. I’m kind of unruffleable. I’m steady. I appreciate where I’ve landed. And I guess it took all of that, and a lot of emotional pain and struggle, to find a place of just grace in the world. And I feel it every day.
I don’t begrudge anyone a little work or injectables, but women are getting them too young and we’re seeing Oscar-winning actresses under 40 turn up with completely new faces. It detracts from their ability to convincingly play anyone but modern women. It’s refreshing when older actresses, especially Americans, look their ages on screen. Not only is that increasingly rare it also helps the viewer feel their emotions. (See Claire Danes in The Beast in Me.)
As for getting older I’m dealing with menopause due to a hysterectomy last year and it’s jarring how much I’ve aged. This interview resonated with me and gave me some philosophical life goals. The line about how her face sometimes tells her things she doesn’t want to hear really hit home. Maybe being planted in the middle of the river helps drown out some of those messages.
photos credit: Stillmoving.Net for Netflix via Netflix Press
“I work on the joy”
Let this be a sound lesson to us all.
I have done micro needling and I have done a round of threading and I have had some injections but not Botox. I’m to the point that I think I’m done with it and my face will be what it is. Of course my daughter owns a med spa and she does tell me when I look a little rough but she has excepted what I want to do. I may continue to do face peals.
And she’s not just a scientist in Stranger Things, she is the hbic of the military operation.
And so she gets to have a fight scene and carry a gun.
All that Terminator 2 nostalgia.
Stranger Things is just killing gen x with the nostalgia.
And i love it.
New Orleans is an excellent place to go with the flow.
Some places are sink or swim, new orleans is a place you can coast, if that suits you.
I love that they cast her. And she looks fabulous in the show.
My friend went to a Christmas party with her last year, and from the photos I saw she looks like a normal person aging, albeit wearing a fabulous coat she inherited from her grandmother.
My little brother went to the high school, her and her identical twin sister, Leslie, graduated from in Eastern Maryland. Linda frequently came back to visit family until they passed. Locals always had nice things to say about her.
I’ve been a fan since her Beauty and the Beast days. She got a considerable divorce settlement from James Cameron, considering the fact he was cheating on her when they split.
I do like what she has to say about aging. I’ve had Botox and I don’t have any issue with plastic surgery and agree that you have to be happy within yourself. Good for her!
Yes Linda! This to me is punk rock, in the best way. It reminds me of my favorite feminists and riot grrrl bands in the 90s. A big F U to societal norms of how women should look and behave.