Getty ImagesKevork Djansezian/NBC
In The Wife, which is based on a 2003 novel by Meg Wolitzer, Glenn Close plays a woman who’s long been in the shadow of her famous novelist husband, and who feels crushing disappointment looking back on her life. On Sunday, after winning a Golden Globe—and earning a standing ovation from the audience—for her performance, Close movingly recounted how her own mom sacrificed her dreams.
“My mom never went to college,” she told press backstage at the awards. “She started having children very early too. She had a great artistic mind, and she was very good at art. My dad went on to be a surgeon. She always said, ‘I made a vow and I’m going to stay in this,’ but I can’t say that it was fulfilling for her, for all the potential that she had, and what she said to me was, ‘I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything.’”
Close struggled to speak and teared up as she went on, “Of course as her child, you say, ‘Oh, no, no, no, that’s not true. You know, you have children, we love you.’ And you supported your husband all these years. But I understood what she meant. I understood it because there’s another part of you that has nothing to do with who’s in your life, and everything to do with what’s in your heart, and what’s in your soul, and what feeds you and makes you feel like you’re giving an important contribution to your life.”
Cradling her award, she said, “So I’m holding this as I hold her in my heart, and I’m very moved to get this award for this particular story for her sake.”
Asked how she feels things can change for women who feel subjugated in their lives, Close said we have to speak up: “You have to be brave and articulate what your dreams are. I’m talking about people who’ve been in a certain kind of life for a long time. It’s not too late to follow your dream.”
Close added that she feels like the landscape is changing for women in the industry and in general: “I think we’re getting to a point where women are taking control and starting production companies, and nurturing stories that will give them good roles themselves, and good roles for women. And I really long for the day when it’s not ‘a woman’s movie,’ but it’s a just a good movie, that it’s not characterized like that.”
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