The Older Woman Rocks ---Susan Sarandon, Ita Buttrose, Jane Fonda et al
Without Prejudice
SUSAN Sarandon has revealed she had a passionate fling with David Bowie and how she still loves taking drugs at 67 — but only if she is outside in nature.
The Tammy actor opened up to The Daily Beast as she promoted her new film which sees her play Melissa McCarthy’s grandmother.
She spoke about attending hippie-loving art festival Burning Man in the Nevada desert last year but laments that she can’t go this year because her daughter, actor Eva Amurri, is having her first child.
“I don’t think I’d feel very free to indulge if I was waiting for a message to see if she’s gone into labour,” she said.
Asked if she took any psychedelics at Burning Man, Sarandon replied, “Well, it’s pretty psychedelic to begin with. But, yeah, I’m not new to the idea of mushrooms. I don’t really like chemical things, really,” she said. “(Psychologist and psychedelic-drug advocate) Timothy Leary was a friend of mine, so that acid was nice and pure, but I’m not really looking for chemicals, and I don’t like to feel speedy. But I’ve done Ayahuasca (psychedelic tea) and I’ve done mushrooms and things like that. But I like those drugs in the outdoors — I’m not a city-tripper.”
Peace-loving Sarandon said the world would be a better place if everyone just smoked a little marijuana.
“If more people were smoking instead of drinking, people don’t get mean on weed, don’t beat up their wives on weed, and don’t drive crazy on weed. They just get hungry, don’t go out of the house, or laugh a lot. I think it would make for a much more gentle world,” she said.
Sarandon also spoke about her love affair with David Bowie, who she met around the time they filmed The Hunger.
“He’s worth idolising. He’s extraordinary. That was a really interesting period. I wasn’t supposed to have kids, and I’m the oldest of nine and had mothered all of them, so I wasn’t ever in a mode to where I was looking to settle down and raise a family, so that definitely changes the gene pool you’re dipping into,” she said. “But Bowie’s just a really interesting person, and so bright. He’s a talent, and a painter, and … he’s great.”
Before meeting Bowie, Sarandon was married to actor Chris Sarandon for 12 years, divorcing in 1979.
She then had one of Hollywood’s most enduring relationships with Tim Robbins, 55, with whom she has two sons.
Sarandon’s daughter Eva is from her relationship with 55-year-old director Franco Amurri.
She is now dating toyboy Jonathan Bricklin, 36, who helps her run her ping pong business in New York.
I love Susan Sarandon and love all the older women who are able to be outrageous. We are no longer invisible happy to fade into the background. We know that society can be obsessed with youth culture but we are all going to age.
Older women have had their careers, their children, their husbands. They are confident and excited about " What's next ? "
Ita Buttrose stopped the audience and the hyperbole about that we all should be worried about a new outbreak of A.I.D.S. In fact the spotlight was aimed at a certain country town. Talk of bringing back the Grim Reaper campaign was rife and excitable.
Ita simply stated that the campaign needed to be steadily aimed at young gay men who had anal sex with each other. You could have heard a pin drop. The seventy something lady like Ita bringing up such a fact was shocking. But she's right. That outspokenness
Comes from that there is a lot more years behind her than is ahead. She doesn't have time to not state the bleeding obvious. My Doctor, a man I have known for forty years, says the same thing. Tell it like it is, not how you want it to be.
Jane Fonda looks outstanding in her mid seventies, at 69 Helen Mirren, the same. So do Elaine Paige, Judy Dench, (the most respected of actresses) and highest earning at
80. Hilary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey the list is endless and growing of older women who are confident, compassionate ( one of the one things that men fear most about women ) their compassion.
Men tend to think that women's compassion will complicate the world as they see it. They are right as women are not keen to send their sons, grandsons, great grandsons to War. So the older woman wants peace. Peace and Quiet. Harmony, balance, love.
Gone are her days of impressing others. Trying to hold on to someone that us less than her as she thinks she needs a baby daddy, a trophy to her girlfriends, an income provider. Given that men can earn four times our salary she earns her own income, her own hobbies, her own interests and she can take control of the tv remote.
One thing that impressed me about all the older women is that they are all curious about life. Every single one of them asks the question.
" What's Next ? "
And I love that.
