Carrie Coon isn’t afraid of aging. She’d much rather embrace it than run from it.
“Authenticity is more evocative than any kind of engineering you might consider doing to your face or your body,” Coon told Glamour in a story published on Monday. “Now this is not the message coming from culture. As a woman who is 44, watching myself in HD is not easy, and it’s not comfortable.”
The decision to refrain from “engineering” aspects of her appearance, for Coon, is tied to a maintenance of authenticity.
“It’s a choice I’m making for myself,” she added. “Yes, it’s hard, but I hope that I will continue to work as a character actor — they kicked me out of leading lady status — and I’m very inspired by other women in the business I see who I can tell are also not augmenting their appearance.”
Coon, who played Laurie, a successful but burned-out lawyer and single mother, in the third season of The White Lotus, reprised her starring role as Bertha Russell on HBO’s The Gilded Age, which premiered on June 22. As Bertha, Coon takes on the persona of a new-money matriarch in 1880s New York City. With both characters, the Ohio native charts familiar territory as both a mother and a woman over 40. Coon shares two young children with husband Tracy Letts, 59.
“You’ll always be young and beautiful when your husband is 15 years older than you,” Coon jokingly told the magazine of her marriage to Letts.
But embracing her age doesn’t mean forgoing self-care. In fact, Coon loves a self-care regimen. Lunchtime lasers, also known as baby lasers, as well as gua sha and myofascial massages, she told Glamour, are among her favorite things.
“I like science-based skin care,” she clarified. “But I’m not going to inject anything into my face. It’s just … I think it’s scary and strange.”
The 44-year-old actress isn’t one to judge, however.
“You’ve got to do what makes you feel good, what makes you feel like the authentic version of yourself,” she told the magazine. “That is not my place to judge, but I know people are going to judge me.”
On The White Lotus, Coon starred with Michelle Monaghan and Leslie Bibb as childhood best friends now in their 40s and 50s who decide to reconnect on a much-needed vacation in Thailand. What’s supposed to be a relaxing week abroad quickly turns into a toxic, competitive show of superiority. These women are desperate to outdo each other. For Coon, the storyline is proof of widening opportunities for middle- and older-aged women.
“We have three women in their 40s and 50s playing with each other,” Coon told Collider earlier this month. “I would never work with them at my own age if it was before this time. So, I just feel lucky that the parts on TV are so compelling that film actors want to be on TV.”
The Leftovers star is also well-versed in navigating comments on her physical appearance.
On X, one user pointed out that Coon looks “simultaneously 35 and 55” and “old and young,” but still “fine as hell.”
Coon then replied, also acknowledging her personal decision to refrain from injections of any kind.
“Thank you. I totally agree and I can answer this one: 43, generally healthy, two little kids and not enough rest, no Botox or filler. Have a marvelous day,” she wrote in her response from November 2024.
Thank you. I totally agree and I can answer this one: 43, generally healthy, two little kids and not enough rest, no Botox or filler. Have a marvelous day! https://t.co/RNIkMGXVHe
— Carrie Coon (@carriecoon) November 4, 2024
The Emmy-nominated actress followed up her original response with second one: “I’m not trolling you! I really do agree! Feeling ‘fine as hell’ and loving my 40s; some days I’m feeling 35 and some I lean 55, but they are all me.”
