10 LGBTQ celebs in their 50s who are getting better with age
From Murray Bartlett to Wanda Sykes, meet our 50-something faves!
Words: Brian Leonard; picture: Attitude/Bravo
Afraid of ageing? Then we have a few tips for you.
Number one, don’t watch M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film Old. Number two: immerse yourself in the wisdom of the fabulous middle-aged names in this feature, all of whom are still killing it in their careers while looking better than ever.
From Murray Barlett to Jodie Foster to Wanda Sykes to Graham Norton, please give it up for our 50-something faves…
(And by the way, Ricky Martin, Laverne Cox and Wentworth Miller are all 49!)
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1) Billy Porter – 52
Pose star Billy is best known for his work on the stage and screen – but his music career goes way back. He released his first album in 1997!
Discussing his latest single ‘Children’ at last month’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar, Billy said: “It’s a full thing. She’s coming out honey, daddy’s coming back. She’s getting ready to have a full Tina Turner comeback, bitch!”
The Broadway icon – who won the Man of the Year award, supported by Virgin Atlantic – joked: “My first album came out in 1997! Black don’t crack! She ain’t as young as she used to be, but I’m gonna let the kids have it!”
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2) Andy Cohen – 53
Talk show host Andy spent the year before his 50th “living my life as though it was my last year on the planet,” he told People.
The star added of his last birthday before becoming a dad via surrogacy: “[It was my] going away party. […] I went to London twice. I followed the Dead on tour. I went to Israel for the first time. I went to Europe for three weeks. I did things that I just took advantage of every opportunity, so to speak, and it was a joyous, joyous year.
“I did it really deliberately because I knew that I needed to now hunker down and that I was turning the page on that chapter in my life and that this was going to be great.”
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3) Marc Jacobs – 58
Fashion icon Marc opened up about the ageing process in an interview with Vogue earlier this year. He told the publication of his recent facelift: “I don’t think I look bad for 58 years old. I didn’t feel like I had to do this, but I feel like all of these conversations around ageing or around plastic surgery are just like any other conversations to me.
“The problem comes with the shame around them. And I don’t want to live my life with shame, you know?”
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4) Murray Bartlett – 50
He won plaudits for roles in Looking and Tales of the City, but Australian actor Murray reached a career peak this year with a headline-generating role in The White Lotus.
He turned 50 in March, telling The Guardian of his latest professional success: “It’s definitely a surprise. It’s not like I expected it to happen, for sure. But now that it has happened, it feels like it’s really good timing … I’m a bit wiser. I’m anchored in myself.”
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5) Rosie O’Donnell – 59
Actress, comic and talk show host Rosie turns 60 next March, and according to an interview this year with Vulture, is feeling positive about the milestone.
The Sleepless in Seattle star said: “I always knew as an actress that when I got into my 60s I would be playing the Geraldine Page roles. I wasn’t going to have plastic surgery. I was going to look the way a woman my age should look, and I always thought that would be a blessing in my older age. I would get to play the Colleen Dewhurst roles. That has turned out to be true. I’m getting all this acting work now that I’m closing in on 60.”
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6) Wanda Sykes – 57
In Not Normal, her 2019 comedy special for Netflix, Wanda poked fun at her age in typically self-effacing style.
“You know how they say some women have resting bitch face?” she joked. “Well [former US President Donald] Trump has given me resting ‘what the fuck’ face. Every morning I’m looking in the mirror, like, ‘What the fuck?’ “I got crow’s feet, I got a f***ing divot in my forehead… he has cracked black!”
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7) Graham Norton – 58
Drag Race UK judge Graham Norton once told The Times of rocking grey facial hair: “I look older, but better with the beard. So that’s why. Yes, people were slightly nervous. TV people were, like, ‘Oh, you’re keeping that.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think I can still do my job with a beard.’”
The star added: “Telly’s a very cruel mirror. That’s bound to affect how you look at yourself, whereas most people look once a day in a bathroom mirror, think, ‘That’s me,’ and then get a shock when they see their holiday pictures.”
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8) Samantha Fox – 55
Sometimes, the person stays the same and it’s the world around them that changes. That’s certainly true of the always-gorgeous Samantha. The former glamour model used to say she’d do Playboy again at 50 if she felt like it, but “there is no more Playboy,” as she told The Guardian in 2017.
“Because young boys or anybody can go on their phone and look at anything they want to look at,” she complained. “[If I had a son] I’d rather him buy a tasteful glamour magazine than going on the internet!”
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9) Jodie Foster – 58
Double Oscar-winner Jodie made her film debut in the 1972 Disney film Napoleon and Samantha. Almost 50 years later, she’s still at the top of her game, winning the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for The Mauritanian this year.
Last year, the star opined to AARP of getting older: “There’s research showing that there’s a kind of happiness and contentedness that people have in their 60s and 70s that is just not available to them in earlier life. There’s a neurobiological change, where you’re much more relaxed about the future because you’ve already arrived into the future. And, you know, it’s not that big a deal.”
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10) Alan Cumming – 58
Spiceworld actor Alan has written a whole cabaret show on the subject in question – and named Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age.
In the blurb for the show, the thespian says: “I’m constantly told, even now in my sixth decade, that I am childlike or puckish, and yet at the same time I’m also called a silver fox and a daddy. I think we all get really mixed messages about aging. We’re told to worship at the fountain of youth, to do everything we can to our bodies and our minds to stay young, yet we bandy around pejoratives like ‘grow up’ or ‘act your age’, even that we’re ‘mutton dressed as lamb’.”
He added: “I feel I’m still at an age where I can dance till dawn, but also be able to dole out some wisdom to my fellow revellers! Wisdom is just being able to recognise the repeating patterns that emerge as you get older and maybe deciding to react to them differently. It’s just the same show with different costumes.”
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