Jamie Lee Curtis is smart, confident and, on the brink of turning 60, throwing herself into more projects than ever. She stars this month in the newest (sixth) chapter of the iconic horror franchise Halloween, has just published her 13th children’s book (the first 12 were best sellers) and is working up a prototype of a diapers-and-wipes product mash-up she wants to produce (proceeds will go to charity), and writing her first screenplay, a thriller. She also bakes a mean lemon cake, but sometimes forgets to serve it.
Me, Myselfie & I: A Cautionary Tale
She is the living embodiment of her life philosophy: If not now, when? “On the very clear passage of 50s to 60s, I have no time to waste,” she says. “None. If you have creative ideas and you don’t bring them out into the world in some way before you go, that is a tragedy.” But she’s here to help us all get there! Listen in as Jamie Lee sits down exclusively with GH to share happy-life secrets everyone from millennials to grandmothers can tap for a life full of more satisfying (and funny) moments.
Wash your own car.
A little sweat now will earn you a rewarding rest later. “I’m a hard worker. I’m a hustler,” says Jamie Lee. “I like to invent things, and I like elbow grease. I wash my own car — why have other people do it while I sit on a bench watching them? I want sweat equity. I want it in my mothering, I want it in my marital-ing, I want it in my family-ing, I want it in my friend-ing. You tell me you’re moving, I will show up on moving day. There will be a point where I want to relax and not worry so much about my sweat equity — when I’ve earned my rest.”
Get fired at least once.
Raised by actor Tony Curtis and original scream queen Janet Leigh (of Psycho fame), Jamie Lee grew up wanting to be…a cop. A cop? “I was studying corrections at the University of the Pacific,” she says. “I was a terrible student. School just…missed me. I probably had some learning thing I didn’t know about. I had a D+ average and was a party girl.” But on a lark she tried out for a new Nancy Drew series going into production. She didn’t get the job, yet the tryout led to a seven-year contract with Universal. Adios, school; hello, Operation Petticoat! “Then I got fired, along with 12 other actors,” says Jamie Lee. “I was devastated; I thought it was the end of my life. But had I not been fired, I would not have been able to go up for the movie Halloween — which basically gave me the life I have today.”
Expose yourself.
In 2002, Jamie Lee did a no-makeup, non-Photoshopped shoot (for More magazine) that was an instant hit among women for its honesty. “It was an attempt at saying, ‘I struggle with my own self-esteem,’ ” she says. “I live a very quiet, private life. I do not do this [poses dramatically] in my daily life. People like Meryl Streep can put on any white shirt and we all go, ‘Ahhh, look how gorgeous!’ I’ve never been a comfortable cover girl, but the girl in those photos took off her clothes and stood there, letting her tummy relax. I was free.”
Marry your opposite.
“My husband [actor, musician and screenwriter Christopher Guest, 70] and I are opposites. We have been for 33 years, and we always will be. He’s an intellectual, and I was from the movie star/alcoholic/drug addict side, where education was not the most important thing. We don’t listen to the same radio station, we don’t read the same paper, we don’t go to bed at the same time. But we read the same history books. For our 30th anniversary we both read a book called Undaunted Courage, the story of Lewis and Clark. Then we took eight friends and retraced a section of the Missouri River in canoes that followed the path of their expedition. We’re a little nerdy.”
Let it go.
“I am a constant editor. I shed people, I shed clothing, I shed possessions, I shed ideas. The biggest thing I’ve shed is my own limitations and perception of who I am. How can I expect my agent to think of me in a different way if I don’t think of me in a different way? Is he going to wake up and say, ‘That Jamie Lee is smart — she should write a screenplay’? Not going to happen! It has to come from me. And even if I stumble in my pursuit, that’s OK. We are all looking for a fast track to enlightenment, but it’s sweat equity, sweat equity, sweat equity.” Perhaps her biggest reinvention: “I got sober 20 years ago. That was a massive reemergence.”
Don't look in the mirror.
“I don’t know if men wake up, look in the mirror and hate themselves. Most women do. So I have a big secret: I don’t look in the mirror. I’m a 60-year-old woman. I am not going to look the same as I used to, and I don’t want to be confronted by that every day! When I get out of the shower, I have a choice: I can dry myself off looking in the mirror, or I can dry myself off with my back to it. I turn my back to the mirror, and I feel great! I don’t want women to hate themselves, because I think women are extraordinary.”
Stay the course.
Jamie Lee’s secret to a long marriage? “Don’t leave. There’s a recovery phrase that says, ‘Stay on the bus…the scenery will change.’ You think you’re having a bad week, but stay on the bus, because one of these days you’ll look out the window and it’ll be beautiful. I think it can apply to almost anything where you feel unhappy in that moment. I’m not a wild romantic. I’m a realist. I respect him. And I just don’t leave.”
Volunteer your talents.
“All people kissing 60 have a deep well of experience to offer others,” says Jamie Lee, who suggests that people of all ages volunteer at schools: “If you’re a baker, bring your baking skills. If you’re a dressmaker, bring your sewing skills. If you garden, plant a vegetable garden and work with the teachers on sustainability. It’s too easy to sit back and look at screens and see life passing us by. Get sweaty. We can never say we’ve done enough.”
Jamie Lee Gets Personal About Her Most Popular Films
This story originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Good Housekeeping.
