Joanna Lumley, 78, admits ‘my time is coming soon’ as she makes rare mortality admission: ‘Friends are beginning to leave’
Dame Joanna Lumley has opened up about her mortality, revealing she believes her “time must be coming quite soon” as she witnesses friends passing away.
The 78-year-old actor and comedian shared her thoughts on aging and the limited time she has left in a candid new interview.
“As you near the top of the hill, you suddenly think, ‘Gosh, there’s not all that amount of time left,'” she said.
“All kinds of my beloved friends are beginning to leave. My time must be coming quite soon, and I don’t want to have wasted a minute of being on this beautiful planet.”
The Absolutely Fabulous star’s candid reflections come as she maintains a busy work schedule despite her advancing years.
Far from being morbid, Lumley says the awareness of her mortality has given her a renewed zest for life.
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“I used to panic when I was young, but as I’ve got older, I’ve started literally to live day to day. With age, you work out what matters,” she admitted.
The actress is determined to live life to the fullest, keeping her work diary busy despite her age. She has a refreshingly positive view on growing older, rejecting society’s negative attitudes towards aging.
“I always knew that good stuff would come along when I was older. When I was 18, I longed to be 30. When I was 30, longed to be 50,” she said.
“We mustn’t be led into thinking getting old is bad. Growing old is good,” she added to My Weekly. Lumley’s work schedule remains packed with high-profile projects showcasing her versatility.
This year, she starred in the hit BBC comedy series Amandaland while in 2024, she appeared in the acclaimed Netflix drama Fool Me Once, further cementing her status as one of Britain’s most enduring performers.
Her latest venture sees her exploring the 1,770-mile length of the River Danube for an ITV travel series.
This impressive workload follows a career spanning decades, from her breakout role in The New Avengers in 1976 to her iconic performance as Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous.
The latter show was ranked number 17 on the British Film Institute’s list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000. Her film work also includes sharing the screen with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Alongside her reflections on mortality, Lumley has expressed concerns about the impact of social media on younger generations.
“My big message to the young is that you need time in your head. I’m so afraid we’re going to breed a generation who don’t know the world and don’t know how to talk,” she warned.
The actress believes young people need space for their own thoughts away from digital distractions. This isn’t the first time Lumley has shared her thoughts on younger generations.
She previously commented on work ethic, telling the i newspaper: “I think this is a new thing. People thinking: ‘I couldn’t possibly! Why should I make the tea and coffee?'”
“We’ve got to try to get the young to understand that it’s a tough old world. It’s lovely, but it’s tough. You’ve got to be ready, resilient, brave… and humble.”
Away from the cameras, Lumley leads a fulfilling personal life with her conductor husband, Stephen Barlow, 70. She is a devoted mother to her son Jamie, 57, and a grandmother to Alice, 22, and Emily, 21.
Her illustrious career has seen her take on a wide range of roles across television and film. In the 1960s, she memorably played one of Ken Barlow’s first girlfriends in Coronation Street.
Her television work spans from The New Avengers and Sapphire & Steel to Finding Alice and Motherland.
But it was her role as the champagne-swilling, chain-smoking Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous alongside Jennifer Saunders that made her a household name.
Despite approaching 80, Lumley shows no signs of slowing down, embracing each day with the energy and enthusiasm that has characterised her remarkable career.