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“Terminator” star Linda Hamilton is pushing back against Hollywood’s fixation on youth as she embraces aging.
During a recent interview with AARP magazine, the 69-year-old actress explained that she opposes adhering to rigid beauty standards and views her physical appearance as a natural reflection of her life.
“I do not spend a moment trying to look younger on any level, ever,” Hamilton said. “I have just completely surrendered to the fact that this is the face that I’ve earned. And it tells me so much. And sometimes it’s stuff I don’t want to hear.”
“I don’t chase beauty, and I don’t chase longevity particularly,” she continued. “I’m fully planted in the moment, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try to be healthy. But not all the time — sometimes it is just a jelly donut.”
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“I’m not rigid, which is a fantastic way to get older,” Hamilton added. “I’ve always said that rigidifying is what kills us: the rigid thoughts and the sort of not moving.”
“I’ve tried very hard in my life to stay as fluid as possible. One definition of happiness is being in the middle of a fast-moving river and not trying to swim to the left or the right side. And that, truly, is kind of what my life has been. It’s been a great, fun ride.”
Hamilton rose to fame starring as Sarah Conner in the 1984 science fiction action movie “The Terminator.” In the film, Sarah is a teenage waitress who is suddenly targeted by a killer cyborg, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The actress returned for the second movie, 1991’s “Terminator 2,” which saw the transformation of Sarah from an ordinary young woman into a iconic action heroine.
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To prepare for the role, Hamilton underwent months of rigorous physical, combat and weapons training and she went on to perform most of her own stunts. At the age of 62, Hamilton reprised her role in 2019’s “Terminator: Dark Fate” and trained intensely for a year to convincingly play battle-hardened Sarah.
Hamilton is currently starring as scientist and military operative Dr. Kay in the fifth season of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things.” While speaking with AARP, the Emmy Award nominee explained that decades of stunt work has taken a toll on her body and detailed how she stayed in shape while filming the show.
“To do ‘Stranger Things’ and to just keep myself in a level of fitness — there’s also a lot of damage and harm that I’m working with, having done so many stunts and falling on my butt in fear, there’s a bit of a price to pay — I was doing physical therapy three times a week,” she said.
Hamilton continued, “It’s this fantastic place that I discovered that was paying attention to whatever I needed that day. It was Pilates, it was yoga, a lot of free weights, machines, cables, everything. And I kind of love that: to go in and not have a chest and back day, but just have a ‘what do you need to loosen up and stretch out today.’ Really, really invaluable. So that’s basically what I do three times a week.”
During her interview with the outlet, the Maryland native also reflected on the advantages of aging.
“I fully inhabit myself in a way that I never did when I was younger,” she said. “I’m not trying to please anyone or prove anything or show off. It sounds kind of cocky, but it’s not. It’s a lovely satisfaction with the career that I’ve had.”
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Hamilton shared that she is embracing becoming a grandmother for the first time. She told the outlet that her baby grandchild’s father is her son Dalton, 36, and lives in her neighborhood.
“We are slipping into that beautiful thing that is grandparenting,” she said. “I find that the connection is stunning; looking into his eyes, there is something so precious.”
The actress shares Dalton with her ex-husband, actor Bruce Abbott, to whom she was married from 1982 to 1989. She is also mother to daughter Josephine, 32, whom she shares with her ex-husband, director James Cameron.
Along with “Stranger Things,” Hamilton recently starred in the second and third season of the SYFY show “Resident Alien” and the sci-fi action movie “Osiris.”
“I’ve found a great balance between work and life — managed to work a lot in the last few years — which is such a surprise,” she told AARP. “I haven’t worked that fiercely for a three-year period, doing two series at a time and slipping a movie in between.”
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“And yet I’m managing to still be part of my community and not leave all my friends behind because I’m working,” Hamilton added. “I have found a way to weave it together very beautifully. I certainly feel like everything is a blessing right now.”
Hamilton also shared that the best piece of advice that she had ever received was from her daughter Josephine.
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“She was maybe 6 years old, we were visiting my parents in Maryland,” Hamilton recalled. “And I got up from a nice little nap and my mom said, ‘Josephine and I were talking, and we were talking about beauty, and Josephine said, ‘My mom is beautiful and you want to know why?’ And my mother said, ’Why do you think?’ And she said, ‘Because her face is filled with joy.’
“So I have actually used that as my definition of beauty ever since,” she said. “And I work on the joy.”
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