Actress Brooke Shields slammed the entertainment industry for not representing women over 40 and said actresses like her have been “put out to pasture” once they are no longer in their 20s.
During the Oprah Daily this week, the 57-year-old actress spoke to Gayle King about how “incensed” she was because, as far as the industry is concerned, a woman is either in their 20s and sexy or wearing Depends — there’s no representation for females in between.
“I’m still in a career; I’m still working; I’m here and I was shocked by how unrepresented I was,” Shields explained in a preview of the interview posted Thursday to Oprah Daily’s Instagram.
“You’re either 20s and sexy and fabulous or you’re in Depends and you’ve got dentures,” she added. “There’s this vitality in the center of this bracket, it’s like from 40 on we start living in our lives. And we’re not marketed to. We’re over.”
“Once you’re over [a certain age], you stop working; you’re, like, put out to pasture,” the “Endless Love” star continued. “I was incensed by that.”
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The comments echoed the “Pretty Baby” star’s sentiment recently when she appeared on Spotify’s “The VeryWell Mind” podcast with therapist Amy Morin, and the two discussed the topic of ageism, Yahoo News noted.
“We’ve just become used to how we’re spoken about, and we’re told you hit a certain age and they just put you out into pasture,” Shields shared. “Oh, your ovaries are no longer gonna make the world continue, so we’re just gonna kind of lump you over there. You’ve had a good run, and it’s just so not the truth. I mean, I don’t feel it.”
The actress explained that everything is geared toward “younger people,” something she admits she didn’t think about when she was in her twenties.
“It’s flashy and it’s made fabulous and that’s the idea,” Shields said. “And the idea is that’s the only time you’re really ever alive and vibrant. And I think that we’ve just gotten used to it. And I obviously didn’t think to question it when I was in my twenties.”