Linda Hamilton is totally comfortable with who she is.
The 69-year-old actress, best known for playing Sarah Connor opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies, recently spoke to AARP about aging in the public eye and refusing to conform to Hollywood’s impossible beauty standards.
“I’ve never striven to look young on any level,” the new Stranger Things star told the outlet, adding that she doesn’t “chase beauty.”
“I’ve just completely surrendered to the fact that this is the face I’ve earned. And it’s teaching me a lot.”
Hamilton passed on this healthy mentality to her daughter Josephine, 32, whom she shares with ex-husband James Cameron. The action movie icon recalls that when Josephine was just six years old, she found her mother “beautiful” because “her face was full of joy.”
“Since then, I’ve actually been using that as a definition of beauty, and I’m working on the joy of it,” Hamilton said.
The Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee tries to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but she’s not too hard on herself.
“I’m not stubborn. It’s a great way to get older,” Hamilton said. “I’ve always said that rigid thinking is what destroys us. Fixed thinking and certain types of inaction. I’ve always tried to be as fluid as possible in my life.”
She also prioritizes literal movement in her life. Especially after doing so many of his own stunts during his Terminator days that he suffered “substantial damage and harm.”
While preparing to play Dr. Kay in Season 5 of Stranger Things, Hamilton said she worked out three times a week and changed her routine to “pay attention to everything I needed to do that day.”
“It was Pilates, it was yoga, lots of free weights, machines, cables, everything. And I love it. Not having a chest and back day, just thinking, ‘What do I need to loosen up and stretch today?'” she shared.
