Why turning 50 is actually great
An age milestone will always have the power to make you reflect on your life and Irish actress and screenwriter Sharon Horgan – now starring in the film Military Wives alongside Kristin Scott Thomas – has revealed that turning 50 is a time that comes with some ‘fear’.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Event magazine, Horgan, who turns 50 in July 2020, said: “The kind of person I want to be in my 50s, I’m not entirely sure I’ve got the tools to be that. I want to take my foot off the pedal and just enjoy it a little… but I don’t want to lose my energy, because one of the things I like about myself is the energy I have.
“I hate feeling tired. I hate anything that even suggests that I have to slow down at all. But then I don’t want to protest too much. I don’t want to be like, “I’m 50!” I just want it to go away a little bit.”
It sounds like she is accepting and planning to embrace her 50s, even if they’re daunting. So if you’re turning 50, here are some other thoughts on how to embrace it, from celebs who have also passed the half-century milestone…
It’s never too late to change things – dramatically!
Pole dancing? Why not? Jennifer Lopez leads the way when it comes to embracing a new sport or interest (to the extreme!) when you turn 50. The star took up pole dancing for her role in the film Hustlers.
Lopez turned 50 in September 2019 and went on to add playing the Superbowl half time show to her list of achievements in her new decade.
Remember: “It only gets better…”
Who else to reassure anyone turning 50 that things will be OK than Oprah Winfrey? On her 2020 Vision Tour, she told comedian and writer Tina Fey, who turns 50 in May: “I’ll tell you, the only number that actually gave me pause was 60.”
Oprah, now 65, added: “But when I turned 50, my dear friend, Maya Angelou was still alive, and Maya said to me, “Babe, the fifties are everything you’ve been meaning to be. It’s everything you thought you might do. This is it. It’s coming in. You’re not even there yet.”
You can say ‘whatever’ to people’s comments about your age
Take inspiration from Jennifer Aniston, 51, who turned 50 in February 2019, and told InStyle magazine: ““Fifty was the first time I thought, ‘Well, that number,’ ” she revealed.
“I feel physically incredible. So it’s weird that it’s all of a sudden getting telegraphed in a way that’s like, ‘You look amazing for your age.’ I think we need to establish some etiquette around that dialogue and verbiage.”
If anyone comments on your age, you can use Aniston to shut them down. And she’s great inspo for joining Instagram at any age, too!
Accepting that there’s a younger generation coming up behind you – and that’s ok because you’ve still got it, too
Winning a second Oscar marked a moment after the big birthday for Renee Zellweger (she was 50 in April 2019), who picked up her gong for portraying Judy Garland.
Zellweger told InStyle: “It doesn’t consume me because it’s inevitable. It’s a privilege. And, I don’t know, I’d rather celebrate each phase of my life and be present in it than mourn something that’s passed.”
She added: “I don’t want to miss this moment to be something that I used to be. That’s for someone else now. And good luck to them, because you have to survive a lot to move forward to your next state.”
PICTURE: PA
