But as Rebecca Gibney reveals in our 2016 Positive Ageing issue, she’s only just getting started.
We may say ‘actor’. But these days the force behind Julie Rafter is also loving life behind the camera as a creator and producer, most recently of hit TV series Wanted.
The Channel 7 six-parter about two women on the run has just been confirmed for a second season, and reflects 51-year-old Rebecca’s desire to put strong, female characters on our screens – especially women 40+.
“For a long time women felt like they were becoming invisible over a certain age,” she says in the new issue of Prevention magazine.
“So, it’s about showing we’re still vital and intelligent, that we in fact have more to offer now than we did in our 20s and 30s. We’ve got life experience and wisdom.” One of these pieces of wisdom? The value of contentment over constant pursuit of happiness.
“We tend to all strive for excitement or glamour, yet to be truly content is the most wonderful feeling,” explains Rebecca. “It’s a state of bliss because you don’t want for anything.”
Her own contentment comes thanks to loved ones including her husband Richard Bell, 12-year-old son Zach and mother Shirley. The two are very close, and Rebecca credits her mum for inspiring her outlook. “I look at my mum who’s 81 now and such an active member of our society, and that’s what I want to try and celebrate,” she says.
“My attitude towards ageing is about embracing it. We keep hearing ‘Stop the clock!’ and ‘Fight this and that!’ but they’re all the wrong words. They don’t encourage anything positive. It’s ‘embrace’ and ‘celebrate’ and ‘love’. Love your curves, celebrate your uniqueness, celebrate ageing.”
Read more of our interview and see our exclusive photo shoot with Rebecca in Prevention’s October/November 2016 issue!
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