Helen Mirren, a legendary actress, recently opened up about getting older and all the things she has witnessed and executed.
While conversing with Evgeny Lebedev on The Standard’s Brave New World podcast, the Woman in Gold star reflected on how it feels to be 79.
Articulating her thoughts, she said, “You’ve moved through your life, and you are at the other end of your life.”
“You’re at the place you never imagined you’d ever reach when you’re 20, or 30, or even 40. But the reality is you do reach it — if you’re lucky. And that’s the number one thing you realize … is your good fortune at getting to be [alive.] I’m 79, and you lose people along the way,” she shared while highlighting the perks and cons of reaching an old age.
Moving forward, Mirren also talked about Curt Cobain, an iconic musician and the founding member of the grunge band Nirvana, who was found dead at his home in 1994 at 27, just five months after the band recorded their famous MTV unplugged album.
The Excalibur actress said, “I always say, ‘It’s so sad that Kurt Cobain died when he did.’ Because he never got to see GPS. It’s the most wonderful thing, my little blue spot walking down the street. I just find it completely magical and unbelievable.”
Mirren, a fan of certain technology, also expressed her gratitude for having known the world before the tech revolution.
“I’m not full of youth, but I am life full. I much prefer that phrase … And I feel so grateful that I lived in a world without technology for quite some time. I knew a world without technology in a deep and full sense … Human connection was a very different thing back then,” the Oscar-winning actress remarked.
Furthermore, during the 39-minute interview, Mirren illuminated the importance of enjoying life at every age, uttering, “I’m 79. I never thought I’d be 79. And then you say, ‘Okay, well, this is it. This is what 79 is,’ you know? And it’s kind of okay. It’s not brilliant. But it wasn’t that brilliant to be 25 either.”
She added that it is not about trying to stay young; rather, it is about living your life as “fully, happily, and completely” as you did when you were younger, and “it’s just called life.”
Towards the end of the podcast, Mirren also disagreed with the host’s comment about her having a “young spirit.”
“No, it’s not. My spirit is the age that I am,” she firmly admitted and concluded, “Maybe I’m positive, or maybe I enjoy certain things, or maybe I’m fairly healthy — luckily so far. I’m sure all that will go pear-shaped quite soon. But, you know, this is the reality of being me. It’s not being young.”
For those unversed, she won an Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth II in the 2007 film The Queen and has also received three Emmys, five SAG Awards, and a Tony Award.
It is pertinent to mention that her acting career spans six decades, and her last appearance was in the Paramount+ series 1923 in 2022.
