Laura Linney on Getting Naked, Losing Natasha Richardson, and Saying No to Plastic Surgery

laura-linney-more-magazine Actress extraordinaire Laura Linney stars in the upcoming Showtime series, ‘The Big C,’ premiering Monday, Aug. 16, at 10:30PM ET.

Her character, Cathy Jamison, is a reserved, Minneapolis schoolteacher who decides to make some long-overdue adjustments to her life after receiving some startling news.

I’m really looking forward to the series, because I love her work. Plus, it’s got the added bonus of Oliver Platt as her husband, and John Benjamin Hickey, Gabourey Sidibe, Phyllis Somerville and Gabriel Basso also star.

Offscreen, Linney’s experiencing a few of her own life-changing moments, which she talks about in the September issue of More magazine, on newstands Aug. 24. A few excerpts:

On her career exploding while her first marriage imploded: “It was weirdly isolating.  The more successful I became, everyone took a slight step back. I didn’t know what to make of it. I was brokenhearted.”

On finding love with her VIP host at the Telluride Film Festival, real estate broker Marc Schauer: Upon arrival at the airport, she was relieved to discover that he was “not a painfully awkward, strange chap, as some of them can be … I was alone with Marc.  I remember turning and looking at him – Oh my God, am I attracted to my handler? I thought, Calm down. But there was a part of me that was very relieved. I felt like something was waking up. I thought, How wonderful that I can feel this again.”

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On mortality: “I have a lot of friends who’ve died way too young, and I’m a little angry about it. It makes me very upset at the whole viewpoint that there’s something wrong with aging when it’s a privilege to grow old.”

On losing her good friend, actress Natasha Richardson: Richardson’s tragic skiing accident in March 2009 “changed all of our lives. Those of us who knew and loved her and benefited from the incredible talent and we’ll never be the same.”

On the difficult decision to get married in May 2009, soon after Richardson’s death: “We actually thought about postponing the wedding. She would have been there. Of all my friends, she was the one who was most annoyed that we were taking so long. She was so happy when we got engaged, and she kept saying: ‘When is this wedding happening?’ We were on the phone a lot about the plans.” But the couple decided to proceed with a small ceremony in Linney’s Connecticut backyard: “We all needed something to be happy about.” And when it came time for the bride to walk down the aisle, “I realized I needed someone, and I thought, Where’s Liam [Neeson]?” Adds her pal Willis Sparks:  “Neeson wasn’t about to say no. I remember thinking it was heroic of him just to show up, but he wanted to be there for Laura.”

On doing nude scenes: “I’m a real tart. I’ve been naked in a lot of movies. I feel that the nudity in some way will add to the story or the understanding of the character, I’ll do it.”

On being happy, at 46, with her looks: “I feel like I’m getting better looking as I get older. It’s true. I’m sort of trying to be friends with it and say, Look, there’s a little bit of my grandmother there.

On best friend Jeanne Tripplehorn and their anti-plastic surgery pact: “We’re not going under the knife, we’re not going to do Botox. We’re both very committed to approaching life gracefully.”

Images: More Magazine, Showtime


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One response to “Laura Linney on Getting Naked, Losing Natasha Richardson, and Saying No to Plastic Surgery”

  1. Melbourne Avatar

    Laura Linney is already too beautiful to me. She doesn’t need any plastic surgery.

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