For Linda Hamilton, 69, ‘Everything Is a Blessing Right Now’

I hear you.

I don’t chase beauty, and I don’t chase longevity particularly. I’m fully planted in the moment, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try to be healthy. But not all the time — sometimes it is just a jelly donut. I’m not rigid, which is a fantastic way to get older. I’ve always said that rigidifying is what kills us: the rigid thoughts and the sort of not moving. I’ve tried very hard in my life to stay as fluid as possible. One definition of happiness is being in the middle of a fast-moving river and not trying to swim to the left or the right side. And that, truly, is kind of what my life has been. It’s been a great, fun ride.

How are you staying in shape these days?

To do Stranger Things and to just keep myself in a level of fitness —  there’s also a lot of damage and harm that I’m working with, having done so many stunts and falling on my butt in fear, there’s a bit of a price to pay — I was doing physical therapy three times a week. It’s this fantastic place that I discovered that was paying attention to whatever I needed that day. It was Pilates, it was yoga, a lot of free weights, machines, cables, everything. And I kind of love that: to go in and not have a chest and back day, but just have a “what do you need to loosen up and stretch out today.” Really, really invaluable. So that’s basically what I do three times a week.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hamilton filming “Terminator: Dark Fate” in 2019.

Kerry Brown/Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

A few months ago I had the opportunity to chat with your friend and former costar Arnold Schwarzenegger, and when I asked him “What’s the best thing about getting older?” he said “Nothing.” Do you agree with that? Is there something good about it?

I fully inhabit myself in a way that I never did when I was younger. I’m not trying to please anyone or prove anything or show off. It sounds kind of cocky, but it’s not. It’s a lovely satisfaction with the career that I’ve had. 

I have a new grandchild who lives in my neighborhood [whose father is Hamilton’s son Dalton, 36, with her first ex-husband, actor Bruce Abbott], and we are slipping into that beautiful thing that is grandparenting. I find that the connection is stunning; looking into his eyes, there is something so precious. 

I’ve found a great balance between work and life — managed to work a lot in the last few years — which is such a surprise. I haven’t worked that fiercely for a three-year period, doing two series at a time and slipping a movie in between. And yet I’m managing to still be part of my community and not leave all my friends behind because I’m working. I have found a way to weave it together very beautifully. I certainly feel like everything is a blessing right now.

What do you want your grandson to call you?

“Grandy” — it suits me.

Director James Cameron and Hamilton chat during the filming of “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” in 1991. The couple was married from 1997 to 1999 and share a daughter, Josephine Archer Cameron.

Mary Evans Picture Library/Everett Collection

Do you remember who gave you the best advice and what it was?

My daughter [Josephine, 32, with second ex-husband, filmmaker James Cameron], when she was maybe 6 years old, we were visiting my parents in Maryland. And I got up from a nice little nap and my mom said, “Josephine and I were talking, and we were talking about beauty, and Josephine said, ‘My mom is beautiful and you want to know why?’” And my mother said, “Why do you think?” And she said, “Because her face is filled with joy.” So I have actually used that as my definition of beauty ever since. And I work on the joy. 

You’re video chatting with me from New Orleans. Is this your home base now?

It’s the only place I have. I try to keep things simple. I have one credit card. I literally try to keep my life so that I can do it and not have to find things and worry about things and not be able to track things. So I’m a bit of a minimalist that way.

What drew you there?

I came here blind, just as a cry for help, 10 years ago. I moved out of California 15 years ago. I had a farm in Virginia close to my parents as they were dying. And then once my dad died, I just said, “Get me off this farm.” It was so lonely. And people don’t really come and see you and visit when you have a family farm. They do come and see you when you live in New Orleans. I got off the farm. I didn’t know where I was going to go. I knew I couldn’t go backwards to California, and I just said, “Let me try New Orleans.” I didn’t have a friend here and I bought the first house I saw, found it on Zillow, like I’m really trying to live that life.

Do you have a bucket list of things you still want to do? Are you working on things like that? 

My twin sister died five years ago; that was a real reckoning, too, as her identical twin. It sure did shake me up a little bit, the huge loss of my other half. I started doing some bucket-list things. I started jumping horses again after 40 years. I was like, “I need to do that. I need to get on horses and start jumping.” It was absolutely ridiculous and fun.

Do you have any regrets?

No. That doesn’t mean that I’m not sad about some of my behaviors in the past, when I was young and out of control and very mentally ill. [In 2004, Hamilton publicly revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression.] Yeah, there are those regrets. And I certainly have been making up for it. I’m kind of unruffleable. I’m steady. I appreciate where I’ve landed. And I guess it took all of that, and a lot of emotional pain and struggle, to find a place of just grace in the world. And I feel it every day.

What would you tell your younger self?

“It’s all going to have such a happy ending: Don’t sweat it.”