This month, Oscar winning legend Sally Field chats with Ladies’ Home Journal about her recent move to New York City, how she lobbied Steven Spielberg to be cast a Mary Todd Lincoln in Lincoln, and finding the energy to pursue her passions.
And this month she returns to the screen as Aunt May in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The issue of Ladies’ Home Journal is on newsstands now.
On her new found freedom:
“This is the first time in my life I find myself standing in place going, Now what? Wait a minute, you mean it’s up to me? Suddenly my life is open to possibilities.”
On her recent move to New York City:
“There’s so much to do that sometimes I just say, ‘Okay, Field, you have to stop for two nights and just read your book!’”
On balancing work and raising children:
“The balancing act is hell, let’s face it.”
On how her kids acknowledge her celebrity status:
“They do and they don’t. It’s funny how they maneuver it. My older sons basically don’t let anyone know I’m their mom.”
On finding her voice to fight for the role of Mary Todd Lincoln:
“I usually don’t have the courage, but this time I knew I had to make a stand.”
On wearing her heart on her sleeve:
“If you keep your emotions in check and swallow them down and don’t talk about something that deeply moves you, then you’re living half a life.”
On finding the energy to pursue her passions:
“Sometimes I have a lot of energy. But what you don’t see a lot of times is that I’m very quiet and introspective.”
On her dating status:
“When you get to a certain age, you’re not dating. I’m not taking myself off the market – not that I’m on the market. I’m just alive.”
On her five-year plan:
”I’m just trying to look at what’s important to me, and let go of the things that are not of value. Right now, I’m looking at myself in the mirror and asking, ‘Who do I want to be when I grow up?’”
On 50 Fabulous Years in Hollywood:
- · The Flying Nun, 1967 – “I was going through so many transitions in my life during this show, becoming a mother. It wasn’t an easy time.”
- · Norma Rae, 1979 – “The studio didn’t want me for this picture. It had been offered to four or five other people, who turned it down.”
- · Places in the Heart, 1984 – “A stupendous cast and director. And I was so young, in my early 30s. I actually had a neck.”
- · Mrs. Doubtfire, 1993 – “Robin Williams was always haunted by the fact that he couldn’t make me laugh. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t break me out of character.”
- · Lincoln, 2012 – “I had to gain 25 pounds for the role, which was hard to do.”
- · The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 2014 – “I always say, ‘Can’t I be in this movie a little more?’ I just want to spend more time watching the young cast do what they do.”