Amandaland and Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley has revealed that she wants to make the most of life after reflecting on her mortality ahead of turning 79
Joanna Lumley says knowing she is getting older and running out of time makes her more energetic. The 78-year-old actor and comedian thinks a lot about her mortality.
She said: “As you near the top of the hill you suddenly think, ‘Gosh, there’s not all that amount of time left,” she reflects. “All kinds of my beloved friends are beginning to leave. My time must be coming quite soon and I don’t want to have wasted a minute of being on this beautiful planet.” She is so determined to live life to the full, that her work diary remains busy.
This year she has starred in the hit BBC comedy series Amandaland and in 2024 she was in the acclaimed Netflix drama Fool Me Once. Her latest ITV travel series sees her explore the 1,770-mile length of the River Danube.
Joanna also warned against fearing old age and added that she ‘always knew’ the good stuff would come along as she got older. She told My Weekly: “I used to panic when I was young, but as I’ve got older I’ve started literally to live day to day. With age, you work out what matters.
“I always knew that good stuff would come along when I was older. When I was 18, I longed to be 30. When I was 30, longed to be 50.
“We mustn’t be led into thinking getting old is bad. Growing old is good.”
Joanna has also had a message for young people. She warned that social media means teenagers won’t know how to talk to each other.
She said: “My big message to the young that you need time in your head. I’m so afraid we’re going to breed a generation who don’t know the world and don’t know how to talk.”
Joanna’s illustrious career has seen her star in a host of successful TV shows, from The New Avengers and Sapphire & Steel to Absolutely Fabulous, Finding Alice and Motherland.
In the 60s she was memorably one of Ken Barlow’s first girlfriends in Coronation Street and on the big screen she worked alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Away from the screen she is married to her conductor husband Stephen Barlow, 70. She is a devoted mum to son Jamie, 57, and she has two granddaughters, Alice, 22, and Emily, 21.
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