41, according to American actress Renee Zellweger.
When the Bridget Jones star, 47, appeared on the red carpet in 2014, it was her face that instantly became headline news.
Tabloids reported that she’d gone under the knife – one journalist even described her as looking like “a victim of ‘Invasion of the Face Snatchers’.”
It’s a story that’s hung around even as her latest film Bridget Jones’ Baby was released this month, despite the actress denying the claim: “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes.”
Double standards
The fact she had to make a statement is ridiculous. Ms Zellweger recently revealed in an interview the reason she stopped making movies in her early 40’s was that she no longer found acting satisfying.
But it’s also a simple truth that women in Hollywood are just not allowed to look their age.
Lead roles for women dry up as soon as they hit 40.
Website Polygraph analysed 2000 Hollywood movies and found 70 per cent of words spoken by female characters went to women aged between 22 and 41. Only 25 per cent went to actresses over the age of 42.
For men, it’s a different story. Men aged 42 and over get 44 per cent of all the men’s lines. Even worse, men aged 42 to 65 get more lines than all the female characters put together.
Women should be centre stage
Now the actress is back, we’ve seen the movie and you know what? She looks amazing. And you know who does look old? The men.
Colin Firth, the original Mr Darcy, looks every inch of his 56 years, and even 50-year-old Patrick Dempsey (aka ‘McSteamy’ from television’s Grey’s Anatomy) seems to be showing his age.
A win for women on the big screen?
What do you think about the range of roles for women over 40? Let us know in the comments below.
