It’s hard to believe Downton star Elizabeth McGovern recently had a big birthday! She reveals her secrets to looking and feeling good…
Having taken time away from the cameras to work in the theatre, Elizabeth McGovern is set to light up the big screen this month in Downton Abbey: A New Era. Once again, she’ll be stepping into Lady Cora’s stylish shoes as the upstairs, downstairs saga returns for a second movie.
On screen, her hair is dyed a shimmering dark brown, but in real life, Elizabeth’s embracing her grey and looking fantastic. Nevertheless, she admits she’s found hitting the big 6-0 hard. ‘Turning 50 was fine, but I did not like the idea of turning 60,’ she says. ‘As it encroached, everything about me was like, ‘No, I cannot be 60, I’m not into it!’ Once I got past the milestone and with a little help from friends, I’m loving it.’
But, she says, ageing is still a challenge for actresses. ‘When you get to be my age, you either have a choice between the crazy woman who refused ever to become the perfect mother and wife and is now a neurotic, mostly alcoholic mess, or you play the nice perfect grandmother with hands folded in your lap,’ she jokes.
Once engaged to Hollywood bad boy Sean Penn before he walked down the aisle with Madonna, British-based Elizabeth has been married to her director husband Simon Curtis, 61, since 1994. She admits to suffering from empty nest syndrome when their daughters Matilda, 27, and Grace, 23, left home, and was thrilled when they moved back during the Covid lockdowns. ‘I couldn’t have been happier!’ she says. ‘I would be lying if I said I don’t miss them.’
Despite having a double hip replacement in late 2020, the 5ft9 US-born star stays in great shape by swimming and going for long walks around her West London home. ‘I like my sleep, I like my water, I love to swim and to keep moving,’ she says. ‘It turns out the things your mother used to say are true. If you feel happy in your skin, the rest takes care of itself.’
She’s also a long-time yoga fan and dives into a downward dog whenever she can. ‘I started doing Sarah Beth yoga tapes during lockdown and I’ve kept that goi
