An interview with... Julianne Moore
The age of 50 is considered well past an actress' sell-by date by Hollywood standards. But clearly, Julianne Moore has defied the effects of Father Time. Shower her with compliments and she will express gratitude, but won't reveal the exact location of the Fountain of Youth.
"I work in an industry
where ageing is frowned upon," she states. "But I've
always believed in ageing gracefully like our grandparents and
parents. Women should ferment like a fine wine rather than try to
recapture their youthful looks."
It is refreshing to hear Julianne expressing some old-fashioned
views on maturing gracefully. Not a fan of cosmetic surgery, she
says, "Well my view is if you can't move your face, you
obviously can't act! My husband and I were watching a movie the
other night and he said, 'What the hell is wrong with her
face?' And I told him, 'Botox.' This actress
couldn't move her forehead or eyebrows. The whole centre of her
face was rock solid."
Julianne points out, "Plastic surgery can be a wonderful thing
for people who've had terrible accidents or even help people
overcome difficulties so they gain confidence, and certainly for
things like breast reconstruction. However, there are times when
you see people who've had plastic surgery and the way they
looked before was so unique looking that it's a crying shame
they've felt the need to change it for someone else's idea
of beauty."
Looking at least a decade younger, the alabaster beauty counts Oil of Olay among her beauty must-haves. But if there is one beauty law she absolutely insists upon it's protecting her skin from the sun. I have what I call 'my outfit'," she smiles. "I wear a long-sleeved rash guard (a shirt which has SPF 50) and a pair of board shorts. It's not so sexy, but I keep myself covered. That's my number one beauty secret. I always tell people to stay out of the sun."
Dig a little deeper and Julianne admits she has her moments of self-loathing. "I don't love my freckles," she confesses. "I'd rather not have them, but there's nothing I can do except cover them up with a good foundation for photo shoots."
Last year she shot a revealing ad campaign as the spokeswoman for the high-end Italian accessory and jewellery designer, Bvlgari. Julianne appeared with lion cubs and handbags strategically positioned over her naked body in a series of beautiful photos. It's hard to believe that this body belongs to a mother of two, let alone a woman of 50.
Yet refreshingly, she is one of the few actresses who will admit to feeling the industry's pressure to stay thin. "I'm a slender person and I could still be in the realm of an acceptable weight in Hollywood if I lost five more pounds, which would make me look emaciated!" she laughs. "But if you want to know, the truth about actresses is that we're hungry all the time! We live on granola bars and yoghurt."
You can't help but warm to her openness and her tell-it-how-it-is honesty. Julianne claims that food is a daily battle in the sense that you have to think about what you eat. "Only you know how much you can eat without gaining weight," she offers. "I'm lucky genetically because if I did eat everything, I would be significantly heavier, but I would never be very heavy because of my body type."
But she claims she's not one of those women who are obsessed with working out. "Yes, I run, but it's no big deal. I don't do anything fancy. I go through periods where I watch what I eat because I'm working on a movie, and then I go through periods where I don't watch what I eat at all." She adds, "I tend to gain weight in the summer when my family eats a lot of ice cream."
And family is clearly important to Julianne who has kept her private life just that to allow her children Caleb, 13, and daughter, Liv, 9 - her mini-me version with matching flame-red hair - the chance of as normal an upbringing as possible.
If the actress can pinpoint one moment when her life changed forever it would be when she met her husband director/writer Bart Freundlich, in 1997, to discuss her role in his film debut, The Myth of Fingerprints. After an acrimonious divorce from actor John Gould Rubin, her first husband of nine years, she was hesitant to dive into another relationship so quickly. Plus there was a nine-year age gap to consider - she was 35 and he was 26.
These days, she half-jokes the best way to fight Father Time is to marry a hot, younger man. Well, that's wise advice if you can adhere to it, but she admits the difference in age wasn't the only concern.
"Everything is an issue when you first meet somebody," she says. "It was an issue that he lived in New York, as at the time I lived in LA. There was an issue that he was younger and I was older. And then the relationship progresses and these things cease to be an issue anymore. And you do normal couple things."
Just months after she and Bart became an item she discovered she was pregnant. She said at the time, "It was a complete and total accident, but I was at a point where I really, really wanted to have a child. It made me happier than anything else in the world."
The couple, who have since worked together on two more films - Trust the Man and World Traveler - live in Manhattan. Julianne smiles at the mention of Bart, "It is refreshing to have a man who has knowledge of how the business works. It makes life easier." She pauses. "Well, kind of understands! I am joking, because I will complain about him playing golf or he'll complain about me doing interviews all day long. It's just like any other relationship where you have to deal with things. But I do like the fact he understands what I do and I understand what he does."
To read more, please turn to page 16 of your September
issue or click here to subscribe.
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