10 LGBTQ celebrities in their 50s who get better with age
From Murray Bartlett to Billy Porter to Andy Cohen - these are the famous faces who make us excited to get older!
Afraid of ageing? Then we have a few tips for you.
Number one, don’t watch M. Night Shyamalan’s Old. Number two: immerse yourself in the wisdom of these fabulous middle-aged celebrities, all of whom are still killing it in their careers while looking better than ever.
From Murray Bartlett to Wanda Sykes to Graham Norton, please give it up for our 50-something faves making us feel good about age and the ageing process…
1) Billy Porter – 53
Pose star Billy is best known for his work on the stage and screen – but his music career goes way back. He released his first album in 1997!
Discussing his latest single ‘Children’ at 2021’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar, Billy joked of his age: “It’s a full thing. She’s coming out honey, daddy’s coming back. She’s getting ready to have a full Tina Turner comeback, bitch!”
The Broadway icon – who won the Man of the Year award, supported by Virgin Atlantic – joked: “My first album came out in 1997! Black don’t crack! She ain’t as young as she used to be, but I’m gonna let the kids have it!”
2) Andy Cohen – 54
Talk show host Andy spent the year before his 50th “living my life as though it was my last year on the planet,” he told People.
The star added of his last birthday before becoming a dad via surrogacy: “[It was my] going away party. […] I went to London twice. I went to Israel for the first time. I went to Europe for three weeks. I did things that I just took advantage of every opportunity, so to speak, and it was a joyous, joyous year.”
He added of age: “I did it really deliberately because I knew that I needed to now hunker down and that I was turning the page on that chapter in my life and that this was going to be great.”
3) Marc Jacobs – 59
Fashion icon Marc opened up about age and the ageing process in an interview with Vogue in 2021. He told the publication of his facelift: “I don’t think I look bad for 58 years old. I didn’t feel like I had to do this, but I feel like all of these conversations around ageing or around plastic surgery are just like any other conversations to me.
“The problem comes with the shame around them. And I don’t want to live my life with shame, you know?”
4) Murray Bartlett – 51
He won plaudits for roles in Looking and Tales of the City, but Australian actor Murray reached a career peak with his headline-generating role in The White Lotus.
In 2019, he told The Guardian of his latest professional success and age: “It’s definitely a surprise. It’s not like I expected it to happen, for sure. But now that it has happened, it feels like it’s really good timing … I’m a bit wiser. I’m anchored in myself.”
5) Wanda Sykes – 58
In Not Normal, her 2019 comedy special for Netflix, Wanda poked fun at her age in typically self-effacing style.
“You know how they say some women have resting bitch face?” the Bad Moms star joked. “Well [former US President Donald] Trump has given me resting ‘what the fuck’ face. Every morning I’m looking in the mirror, like, ‘What the fuck?’ “I got crow’s feet, I got a f***ing divot in my forehead… he has cracked black!”
6) Graham Norton – 59
Drag Race UK judge Graham Norton once told The Times of age and rocking grey facial hair: “I look older, but better with the beard. So that’s why. Yes, people were slightly nervous. TV people were, like, ‘Oh, you’re keeping that.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think I can still do my job with a beard.’”
The star added: “Telly’s a very cruel mirror. That’s bound to affect how you look at yourself, whereas most people look once a day in a bathroom mirror, think, ‘That’s me,’ and then get a shock when they see their holiday pictures.”
7) Samantha Fox – 56
Sometimes, the person stays the same and it’s the world around them that changes. That’s certainly true of the always-gorgeous Samantha. The former glamour model used to say she’d do Playboy again at 50 if she felt like it, but “there is no more Playboy,” as she told The Guardian in 2017.
“Because young boys or anybody can go on their phone and look at anything they want to look at,” she complained. “[If I had a son] I’d rather him buy a tasteful glamour magazine than going on the internet!”
8) Alan Cumming – 58
Spiceworld actor Alan has written a whole cabaret show on the subject in question – named Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age.
In the blurb for the show, the thespian says of age: “I’m constantly told, even now in my sixth decade, that I am childlike or puckish, and yet at the same time I’m also called a silver fox and a daddy. I think we all get really mixed messages about aging. We’re told to worship at the fountain of youth, to do everything we can to our bodies and our minds to stay young, yet we bandy around pejoratives like ‘grow up’ or ‘act your age’, even that we’re ‘mutton dressed as lamb’.”
He added: “I feel I’m still at an age where I can dance till dawn, but also be able to dole out some wisdom to my fellow revellers! Wisdom is just being able to recognise the repeating patterns that emerge as you get older and maybe deciding to react to them differently. It’s just the same show with different costumes.”
9) Laverne Cox – 50
In an interview with Byrdie last year, Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox said of the big 5-0: “I have this fantasy of being ‘J.Lo 50’ or ‘Naomi Campbell 50,’ where I’m snatched and I’m looking flawless.” Mission accomplished!
“I had all these milestone birthdays where I was lying about my age,” she added of age. “Now, I get to turn 50 and be openly 50.” Citing that Black trans women have an average life expectancy of just 35, the Promising Young Woman star continued: “It’s a statistical miracle I’m still alive.”
10) Ricky Martin – 51
Where does the time go? He found fame as a fresh-faced member of boyband Menudo in the 1980s, before global solo superstardom beckoned in the 90s. Now in his fifth decade in the music industry, Ricky Martin is still going strong.
Speaking to Red about age in 2018, Ricky said: “We all get judged by our looks in Hollywood – women and men, and now with social media even more so – one bad picture and everyone is commenting; “you look tired”, “you look old”… You’ve just got to go with the flow and enjoy it. I am 46 years old, I don’t want to look 35. I don’t use Botox, I like my wrinkles – I think age is a beautiful thing and I feel strong.”