Image Source: Thrillist

Hollywood has always been a little partial against the older celebrities, actresses in particular. It is not only the industry that discriminates against them but also the general public that can not seem to understand that actors age like everyone else and media outlets that compare celebs to younger selves over and over again. 

Recently, Sex And the City star Kristin Davis opened up about what it is like to grow old n the limelight. While most people age and wrinkle in their private life, actors do it in front of the camera, and that makes for a very uncomfortable experience. The actress played the role of Charlotte York for more than two decades, and that is a lot of time to be in front of the public eye. 

Sharing her experience with aging and its media portrayal, she told NewBeauty, “It can be extremely stressful to be aging and to be compared to your much, much, much younger self.” Not only Kristin Davis but her two co-stars from the series And Just Like That, who also worked with her on Sex and the City, are also always compared to their younger selves. 

“If I was from a regular life, I would feel fine; I would feel great! I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’ve got this little 3-year-old son, and I carry him around, and it’s all good — but, no, I’m on television, where every bit of my physical being is analyzed,” Kristin added.

“That part was always very stressful and difficult for me because, as much as I can look back on my life and think, ‘Oh, I looked great then,’ you never think that at the time. I guess no one does.”

When the trio, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Cynthia Nixon, first made headlines for their new HBO Max show, which is a reboot of Sex and the City, people were quick to say many ageist remarks against them. Adding fuel to fire are the media outlets and paparazzi that usually stand to catch in moments where they can click unflattering pictures of them, especially when the ladies are hard at work on sets. 

“I have bad days; I have days where I literally want to put my face in a bowl of ice like Joan Crawford,” continued the star. “There’s going to be bad pictures, and they’re going to talk about them, and they’re going to discuss your hair, your face, your this and your that, and that’s just how it is I guess, at least in this industry.”

Sadly enough, even out of the industry, there is always a lot of pressure on women to stand by a particular set of beauty standards and look pretty. Kristin added, “I like to think there’s more to life than how we look, but it’s unavoidable in our culture that, as you age — especially as a woman — that how you look is a lot. It’s a whole, bigger cultural conversation we need to have, but right now, it’s hard.” 

The series now also stars Sarita Choudhury and Nicole Ari Parker, and both actresses said that they felt "empowered" by their roles, even if they play characters who are over 50. And yet Sarah Jessica Parker, who has been in the industry longer, shared what it actually is like to play older characters in the industry. 

Sharing some of the ageist comments received by the cast members, the actress told Vogue, “There’s so much misogynist chatter in response to us that would never. Happen. About. A. Man.” “’ Gray hair, gray hair, gray hair. Does she have gray hair?’”

“It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly okay with where we are … whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better. I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop aging? Disappear?”

Geena Davis is another actress who spoke about ageism in the industry. Talking about starring in Thelma and Louise, the actress shared that it was phenomenal for an actor, Brad Pitt, seven years younger than her to be cast as the love interest. Otherwise, the film industry has always prevailed upon casting much older men and younger women in the films. 

The actress, who has now founded Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004, shared that ageism in the industry is  "very strange and so prevalent." Recalling a certain event in her life, she said, "A certain male actor that was making a movie said that I was too old to be his romantic interest, and I was 20 years younger than him. You know what it is? Women peak in their 20s and 30s, and men peak in their 40s and 50s, as far as actors go."

Geena Davis was refused a role by an actor 20 years older for being too 'old'; Credits: Variety

She added, "So the male stars of the movies want to appear to be younger than they are, or they want to appeal to younger people, so they always want a co-star who is really young. That is why that happens, and that is why women don't get cast very much after 40 and 50. It is because they are felt to be too old to be a romantic interest."