She is tired of women being so hard on themselves. Actress Marcia Gay Harden still isn't immune from pick-pick-picking on the details.
She is trying hard to rise about it.
"I think it's really about attitude. You can look at a picture of yourself and say, 'OK, I have 19 chins. I look so fat.' Or you can look at the same picture and say, 'What a gorgeous smile. I was doing the best I could do at the time,'" says the Tony Award winner.
This brings the amazing actress to the issue of aging.
"I would love to think that I don't age!" she says when you mention that she never does seems to change very much on either the big screen in movies like "The First Wives Club," "Pollock," and "Mona Lisa Smile" or the small screen in the upcoming TNT film, "Innocent." She won a Tony in 2990 for "God of Carnage."
At age 52, she says, "I accept aging. The candles are on the birthday cake. Every year, I celebrate adding a 'plus one' when it comes to that candles."
MARCIA GAY HARDEN BEAUTY SECRETS
The California native is a busy working mom who is raising three children, daughter Eulala Grace, 13 and twins Julitta and Hudson, 7. She's married to Thaddaeus Scheel and they live in Harlem.
Ask her for a few beauty secrets and she laughs.
"I guess it starts with good genes," she says. "I also think it's key to stay pretty active, which is easy with kids.
"I eat fairly well," she says, "by just paying attention. We know what's healthy and I try to go to that side."
Ask her about her views on plastic surgery and she says, "When it's time for a refresher, I'll do a refresher. It's just not yet. I will try most products."
She goes back to attitude being the best beauty secret.
"There's nothing more beautiful than a genuine smile," she says. "When you look happy and truly feel happy that's beautiful. That's a true mark of your welfare at any age."
"I don't think the whole goal in life is to be happy in that Pollyanna sense," she says. "I do think healthy encompasses mind, body and spirit."
She says that women tend to be their harshest critic. "Give yourself a break," she says. "Of course, that's easy to say, but sometimes hard to do."
MARCIA AT WORK
Her next big project "Innocent," airing Nov. 29, and based on the 2010 novel by author Scott Turow. It takes place some 20 years after the events of his 1987 best-seller "Presumed Innocent." Bill Pullman also stars as a judge charged with the murder of his wife (Gay Harden).
How does she manage motherhood with making movies?
"Let me tell you. I juggle 15 balls," she says. "They're dropping all the time.
"You pick them up and you know they will drop again," she says.
She adds that having a great group of friends really helps. "My friend Camryn Manheim coined all of us her Mom-tourage. We have a group of women who help each other out. We're there for each other.
"The key is that you can't beat yourself up for every dropped ball. That just takes too much energy," she says. "You just pick them up and toss them in the air again.
"Then you call your friends because you're not alone," she says. "It really does take a village."
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