'Gourmet meals instead of fast food.' 9 famous women on the reality of sex after 50.

Just like with everything else in life – your body, your tastes and opinions – the way you look at sex and have sex will change as you get older.

This logically makes sense, and yet the sexual desires of older women are unfortunately sidelined in mainstream pop culture and media.

Luckily we have the words of kick arse women like Judi Dench, Betty White, Joan Collins, and many more, to remind us that sexual desire doesn’t just disappear when you reach a certain age.

If anything, their learned words only tell us that the older you get, the more confident you become in the sack. But they also speak of changes in libido and how they prioritise sex.

Others begin to notice changes in their libido and how they prioritise having sex in their relationship and that’s completely okay too. No two women are the same.

Team Mamamia confess: The weirdest place they’ve ever had sex.

Salma Hayek (52)

While the Frida star has no qualms about talking sexuality, her decade-long marriage has taught her to see sex as a “side effect” of a happy marriage.

“Sex is not the key to a happy marriage, but it’s a side effect. Although not every day! If it’s every day, it loses its charm,” said Hayek to Red Magazine.

“It’s so important to maintain your chemistry. You have to continue to laugh, explore, have fun with each other, and have romance.”

Despite this, when it comes to ‘sexuality’ she tried to curtail her own judgement of her body (as much as possible) and stay “in touch with [herself]”.

“I try to be really aware of every muscle. It is sexy. Sexuality, what other people see in you, is enjoying your body. Involve your senses in your life, and you will become sexy,” she said.

 

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Sharon Stone (60)

Ever since her breakthrough role in the 1992 thriller, Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone has cemented herself as a sex icon. When asked about what women want from sex in their later years, she said: “We’re hungry for gourmet meals instead of the fast food.”

And isn’t that food for thought?

“As women, we understand our bodies, and there’s a blossoming that occurs because we are not hungry for it,” she said to New You.

“We bring to life a more expansive understanding of life, ourselves, and others. We are more generous and assertive.”

 

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Glenn Close (71)

Speaking to The Guardian, the Oscar nominated actress was intent on ending the myth that older women aren’t sexual beings.

“It’s one of the great myths that you lose your sexuality as you get older,” she said.

“One night last year, I was coming across town from the East Village to the West. It was late on a Friday night and there were a lot of couples on the street. Pippy and I were looking out of the car window and I could feel what all those couples were feeling.

“I could feel their excitement, the sense of intimacy about to happen. It was extremely powerful.”

Close doesn’t see age as a barrier with regard to her sexuality or career.

“I feel as free and as creative, as sexual and as eager, as I ever have. And it’s ironic because I’m thinking: ‘How much time do I have left now?’” she said.

“There are so many things I’m interested in doing. It’s one of those ironies, I suppose, that we sometimes start feeling comfortable in our own skin only late in our lives, but hopefully with enough time to benefit from it.”

 

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Annie and me on our way to the Critics’ Choice Awards tonight. Being silly

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Susan Sarandon (72)

For Susan Sarandon, the actress and activist considers sex to be a part of her beauty routine.

“Sex — that’s good for your skin, right?” she said to You Magazine in 2016.

“To stay young and healthy, you need to weed out toxic things — and toxic people! Oh, and laugh and have sex — if you’re lucky enough to find that — those are really important, too.

“I never thought of myself as losing any of my sexuality or sensuality or curiosity and life force.”

 

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Suzanne Somers (72)

When it comes to sex, Suzanne Somers is of the belief that more is more is more.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2018, she said that with the help of growth hormones and DHEA supplements, her and her husband of 41 years, Alan Hamel, are as ‘active’ as ever.

“Well a healthy person is a sexual person. What is the last thing you feel like doing when you are not healthy, right? So if you keep yourself in optimal health – and that is about the choices you make in life – you are probably going to be in the mood. And then if you juice up your husband like I do [with hormones and supplements],” she said.

“Honestly I have to say to him: ‘I kind of need a break.’ Isn’t that wonderful as that means he is so healthy?”

And for the author, actress and health spokesperson, sex has only gotten better with age – if in terms of frequency alone.

“It is better than teenagers, because when I was a teenager I couldn’t get laid. I am getting laid now. It is better than when I was a teenager,” she said.

Jane Fonda (81)

From sharing details of discovering "true intimacy" at 74, to calming down to a halt at 80, Grace & Frankie's Jane Fonda has a lot of thoughts on sex past the age of 50.

Speaking to The Sun in 2012 about her music producer "lover," Richard Perry, the actress said that "at 74, I have never had such a fulfilling sex life".

"When I was young I had so many inhibitions – I didn’t know what I desired,” she said.

"The only thing I have never known is true intimacy with a man. I absolutely wanted to discover that before dying. It has happened with Richard, I feel totally secure with him. Often, when we make love, I see him as he was 30 years ago."

However, fast forward six years and her sexuality has taken a different turn. In light of her breakup with Perry in 2017, Fonda told The Daily Telegraph that although she's "closed up shop down there,” she's all for women's sexual liberation, no matter their age.

“I certainly don’t want anybody to feel guilty if they’ve closed up shop. Nor should you feel, though, that just because you are of a certain age you have to stop being juicy,” she said.

“You know, get into life. I didn’t mean lubricating juicy, although that is part of it too, I guess."

Despite this she did stress that sex in your later decades does have a few more moving parts, so to speak.

"One thing about sex when you are older is you really have to understand your body, especially for men, you poor guys, you’ve got to do the pills and the shots and all of that stuff,” she said.

 

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Judi Dench (84)

While the revered actress didn't go into the details of her sex life, she was all for people embracing their sexuality, no matter the age.

“Well, of course, you still feel desire. Does that ever go? To the older reader, I would say: ‘Don’t give up,’” she shared in an interview with The Radio Times.

Perhaps this sentiment hits closer to home for the Oscar nominated actress given that her partner of 30 years, Michael Williams, passed away from lung cancer in 2001. Although Dench told  The Times Magazine she "wasn't even prepared to be ready for" finding love after her husband's death, that would go on to change in 2010, in which she began a relationship with conservationist David Mills.

Speaking to Good Housekeeping, she shared this intimate detail about their relationship.

"One hot night during the summer we swam and had a glass of champagne in the garden and I said: 'This is so fantastic'. I get overexcited about things. I love having a laugh," she said.

Joan Collins (85)

Never one to be the least bit shy about well... anything, actress and author of autobiographies like Star Quality, Too Damn Famous and Infamous, Joan Collins is a staunch advocate for older women embracing their sexuality.

Writing for the Daily Mail, the British icon shared her thoughts with the publication.

“Now that sex is used to sell everything from vacuum cleaners to plane tickets, it should be accepted that it’s everyone’s prerogative to enjoy it and have it, regardless of age," she said.

"It makes me happy when I read about a couple marrying in their 80s, or rediscovering their lost love from 50 years ago.

"Today, 60 is the new 45 and 50 is more like 35."

In terms of what she values most in her marriage to her fifth husband Percy Gibson, when she was asked that exact question by ITV's Loose Women panel, her answer was pretty clear...

"Sex, sex, sex," she replied.

And that pretty much sums it up.

 

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Betty White (97)

Take it from a near centurion who continues to make strides in her industry, to give us a reality check on sex and ageing. Betty White says there's no correlation between the two.

“Does desire melt away with age? I’m waiting for that day to come,” she told AARP Magazine in their November / December 2010 issue.

“Sexual desire is like ageing, a lot of it is up here,” she said, pointing at her head.

Speaking to Today's Al Roker in 2014, White shared a similar sentiment.

"[Men are] kind of a hobby of mine," she said.

"The men don't know it."

 

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Can you relate to this advice? Do you have anything to add? Tell us in a comment below.

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