Lorraine star pictured at popular Glasgow restaurant
The popular eatery on Hyndland Road in the West End, which recently changed hands on May 1, has just launched its newly designed bar and restaurant with a stage for live music and an outdoor terrace, and Ross, 63, and his entourage turned up to enjoy their new seven nights a week late-night opening.
The presenter, who was with his new girlfriend Brigitte, his family, and friends, enjoyed trying out Espresso Martini's and some fizz during their trip at the plush venue.
Taking in the LA-inspired decor, ambient lighting, and new menus which include mussels, beetroot salad, steaks and linguine, the Lorraine star explained he was back in Scotland from the Hollywood Hills for a couple of weeks.
READ MORE: Lorraine Kelly pictured at East Kilbride restaurant
READ MORE: Lorraine Kelly's verdict on strawberries and cream sandwich
He enthused: 'I brought my girlfriend Brigitte, whom I met in LA, to find out exactly what life is all about.
"My sister is here, and it was her big birthday on July 4, and it's my brother-in-law's birthday as well, so we did a little wine tasting.
"We've had the most fantastic night.'
The renowned presenter, who used to host on Radio Clyde and recently received an MBE, also brought his hairdresser, Glasgow legend Gary Hely, to his celebratory evening.
He said: 'I also came back to Scotland to get my hair cut.
"I'm also out with the legend that is Gary Healy, who has cut my hair since I was but a lad - and he's the guy that can tell you the truth. My hair is natural.
"It said it on the bottle.'
Admitting he rarely gets a day off his telly job, Ross who lives overlooking the Hollywood Hills, added: 'I'm on a tour.
"I've been to London and I'm going to the Cotswolds as well. My mum and dad used to say to me there is no place like home then I put them in one and they changed their mind.
"I'm joking. This is just my girlfriend coming to see everything here and Glasgow will always be home.
"I love coming back.'
Saying he'd love to return to try more of Epicure's menu, he added: 'It's a long time since I've been allowed in a cool, trendy place like this."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Jessica Alba shows off her chiseled abs in a black sports bra after passionately kissing new boyfriend
Jessica Alba showcased her chiseled abs in stylish fitness attire just two days after she was spotted in a steamy kiss with her new boyfriend Danny Ramirez. The 44-year-old Honey actress — who filed for divorce from her husband of nearly 17 years Cash Warren in February — has recently moved on with the hunky Top Gun: Maverick actor, who is 11 years her junior. In a new Instagram carousel shared on Sunday, the mom-of-three enjoyed a stroll along the beach and took her fans along with her. Jessica posed for a quick snap on a dirt path as the sandy shore and blue ocean water stretched out behind her. The beauty flaunted her toned figure wearing a black sports bra with a white trim as well as a pair of fitted, black leggings. She additionally slipped into a pair of white socks and black sneakers to stay comfortable during the outing. The Hollywood star completed her ensemble for the day by adding a black cap on top of her head that had 'LA' printed in white lettering on the front. The Fantastic Four actress also sported a pair of fashionable black shades to protect her eyes from the bright sunshine. Jessica also snapped a selfie as she flashed a peace sign towards the camera and gave another view of the beach down below. She uploaded a clip that showed a closer look at some of the morning workout as she was joined by a pal, which also included walking up a number of stairs and a light jog. The beauty later fueled up with a refreshing iced green drink and a bowl that was topped with chopped nuts and fruit. Lastly, Jessica took a picture of a colorful butterfly that was resting on a green leaf of a shady tree. In the caption of the latest post, the star simply penned to her 21 million followers, 'Sunday reset.' Jessica has previously opened up about incorporating a fitness regime into her daily life during an interview with E! News last year. 'I get bored,' she admitted when it comes to the gym. 'So I do spinning and I do cross training with a mix of weights and cardio. I just try to keep it moving.' The star also added, 'I try to recruit my friends to come with me. It's just more fun if you go with someone.' Her new Instagram post comes just two days after Jessica was seen passionately kissing her new boyfriend Danny Ramirez in LA on Saturday. In photos obtained by the couple were seen embracing and sharing a kiss outside on a quiet street. Danny sweetly draped his arms over her shoulders during the romantic moment and readjusted her cap on top of her head which caused her to flash a smile. The actor was later seen receiving a large flower delivery and the pair began to walk back towards his house together. Earlier this week on Wednesday, the pair were spotted enjoying date night at an Italian restaurant called Alba. Jessica and Danny were seen outside of the eatery, with the actor driving a vehicle and the beauty next to him in the passenger seat. The two stars held smiles on their faces during the lowkey night out together. Also in July, the pair were spotted vacationing in Cancun - which came after she was seen kissing a mystery man in London, although it is not confirmed whether that had also been Danny. A source told this week that the pair's budding romance has now taken a 'surprising turn.' 'Jessica's romance with Danny has taken a surprising turn. What started out as a summer fling feels like it's getting more serious, although she still wants to take things slow.' The insider added, 'But at the end of the day Jessica has never been one to play the field. She's excited to see where this romance is headed.' A separate source also recently told that the Top Gun: Maverick actor is 'enamored' with the actress, but she isn't in the 'frame of mind' to be in a relationship that is exclusive. 'Danny is cool, a nice guy and he is enamored with her, but it is not exclusive. She's not in that frame of mind.' The insider added, 'He has a chance to make something out of their connection, but she is taking it all in stride. Right now, she's looking to just have fun.' Jessica's new romance comes months after she filed for divorce from Cash Warren after nearly 17 years of marriage in February. She had cited 'irreconcilable differences' as the reasoning behind their separation, with Cash soon filing afterwards. During the course of their marriage, the former couple welcomed three children: Honor, 17, Haven, 13, and Hayes, seven - and both requested for joint physical and legal custody of their kids at the time of the divorce filing. Eight months before it was revealed that Jessica and Cash were 'set for divorce,' the Hollywood star uploaded her final anniversary post to celebrate 16 years of marriage. Speculation first arose that the former couple may have hit a rocky patch in their relationship when she was spotted on public outings without her wedding ring. Jessica also seemingly confirmed she was single in a post to celebrate New Year's, but then reunited with Cash to celebrate their son's birthday at Universal Studios. They first crossed paths on set of the 2004 film, Fantastic Four, and they later said 'I do' in 2008. And in January, the actress took to Instagram to announce the end of her marriage to Cash with a message to her followers. 'I've been on a journey of self realization and transformation for years - both as an individual and in partnership with Cash,' she wrote. 'I'm proud of how we've grown in our marriage over the last 20 years and it's now time for us to embark on a new chapter of growth and evolution as individuals. Jessica added, 'We are moving forward with love, kindness and respect for each other and will forever be family. Our children remain our highest priority and we request privacy at this time.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian give intimate glimpse of grandma MJ's lavish 91st birthday
Kylie Jenner and her sister Khloe Kardashian have offered a special glimpse at their grandma Mary Jo 'MJ' Campbell's 91st birthday bash with an array of sweet Instagram snaps. The beauty mogul, 27, joined both the Good American founder, 41, and mom Kris Jenner at the celebrity hotspot The Ivy in LA over the weekend. Kylie shared the carousel of images on Sunday, with one showing the reality star posing next to MJ as they sat next to each other at a table. The mom-of-two donned a black and white-checkered minidress that clung to her toned frame while her long dark locks were parted in the middle and flowed down past her shoulders in elegant waves. Her grandmother — Kris' mother — dressed to impress in a stylish blazer with a colorful floral pattern as well as matching trousers. Kylie and her older sibling Khloe also paused for a few memorable photos together during the lighthearted afternoon. In a few pictures, the pair could be seen flashing cheerful smiles and also fell into an embrace as they shared a laugh. Khloe also showed off her own personal sense of style in a fitted black dress with white floral details on the material. She additionally slipped into a pair of black pumps and allowed her hair to cascade down in light waves. Kylie better showcased her ensemble for the floral-themed party while taking a quick mirror selfie in the bathroom. The star also included a short clip as MJ was sung happy birthday by her loved ones and other guests in attendance. Kris could be seen standing next to her mother who was next to a circular cake that was topped with floral decorations as well as a gold '91' candle. The Kylie Cosmetics founder offered her followers a closer look at the tasty cake that was also topped with a sugary, pastel yellow frosting. The beauty — who is currently dating actor Timothée Chalamet — was accompanied by her mini-me daughter Stormi, seven, who also flaunted her own fashionable look for the camera. Kylie and her older sibling Khloe also paused for a few memorable photos together during the lighthearted afternoon Kylie shares Stormi as well as son Aire, three, with ex and rapper Travis Scott. Lastly, she also shared a picture to show the table setting which included specially crafted menus and clear vases filled with multi-colored roses. The TV personality posed for another image as she sat at the table with her hand placed on the menu while sipping on a refreshing drink. In the caption of the post, Kylie wrote: '91 years of MJ ♥️ the queeeeen we love you.' Khloe - who was also joined by her daughter True, seven - shared an assortment of lighthearted selfies to her own Instagram page on Saturday. She made funny faces towards the camera while sitting next to her daughter as they headed towards the party inside a vehicle. True - whom she shares with ex Tristan Thompson as well as son Tatum, two - showed off a popular Labubu toy in her hand. She captioned the post by sweetly calling True her 'best friend.' Kris also paid a tribute to her mom MJ in celebration of her 91st birthday - which officially took place on Saturday, July 26. The TV personality posed for another image as she sat at the table with her hand placed on the menu while sipping on a refreshing drink Khloe - who was also joined by her daughter True, seven - also shared an assortment of lighthearted selfies to her own Instagram page on Saturday 'Happy birthday to my mommy MJ!!!' the momager began. 'You are truly the heart and soul of our family... the most incredible mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother we could ever dream of. 'Your strength, elegance, wit, and wisdom have shaped who we all are, and I am endlessly grateful for every lesson, every laugh, and every memory we've shared together.' Kris continued, 'You've taught me what it means to be a strong woman, to work hard, to be kind, generous, to lead with love, and to never lose your sense of humor no matter what life throws your way. 'Thank you for being my rock all of these years, through every moment. You have always been my biggest cheerleader and confidant…' In conclusion, she added, 'You are forever my role model and I'm blessed beyond words to call you my mommy. We are ALL so blessed to be loved by you. I love you!!!' One day earlier on Saturday, some of the Kardashian/Jenner clan were seen arriving to The Ivy shortly before the birthday bash began. Kylie strolled hand-in-hand with Stormi while carrying a stylish black purse over her shoulder and sported a pair of black shades. Khloe was soon also spotted arriving to the eatery alongside her daughter True who sported a pink dress that had 'Dior' printed on the front. 'Happy birthday to my mommy MJ!!!' the momager began. 'You are truly the heart and soul of our family... the most incredible mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother we could ever dream of,' she wrote Later in the day, Kourtney was also seen at the venue while holding her baby boy Rocky - whom she shares with husband and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. She wore a cream-colored maxi dress that had floral-patterned embroidery to fit the theme of the party and layered the look with a black leather jacket for an edgy flare. During an episode of The Kardashians which aired back in March, Kris emotionally reflected on her mom MJ getting older. 'I know my mom struggles with so much right now because she is 90 and she's frail,' she expressed during a confessional. Kris's sister Karen Houghton passed away this year on March 18 at the age of 65 - with the cause of death revealed to be both cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac arrhythmia, per TMZ 'Ever since my sister passed away, she's been super sad, like we all have, and I know that I need to be there for her.' Kris's sister Karen Houghton passed away this year on March 18 at the age of 65 - with the cause of death revealed to be both cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac arrhythmia, per TMZ. Type 2 diabetes had also been listed as an underlying cause. The star later added, 'You never know when you're going to get a call like this, and you never know when somebody's going to need you. 'So I have to compartmentalize my emotions and my feelings and then pop over to my mom's and see what's happening.'
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Generations of women have been disfigured': Jamie Lee Curtis lets rip on plastic surgery, power, and Hollywood's age problem
I'm scheduled to speak to Jamie Lee Curtis at 2pm UK time, and a few minutes before the allotted slot I dial in via video link, to be met with a vision of the 66-year-old actor sitting alone in a darkened room, staring impassively into the camera. 'Morning,' she says, with comic flatness, as I make a sound of surprise that is definitely not a little scream. Oh, hi!! I say, Are you early or am I late? 'I'm always early,' says the actor, deadpan. 'Or as my elder daughter refers to me, 'aggressively early'.' Curtis is in a plain black top, heavy black-framed glasses and – importantly for this conversation – little or no makeup, while behind her in the gloom, a dog sleeps in a basket. She won't say what part of the US she's in beyond the fact it's a 'witness protection cabin in the woods' where 'I'm trying to have privacy' – an arch way, I assume, of saying she's not in LA – and immediately starts itemising other situations in which she has been known to be early: Hollywood premieres ('They tell me I can't go to the red carpet yet because it's not open and so my driver, Cal, and I drive around and park in the shade'); early-morning text messages ('I wake people up'); even her work schedule: 'I show up, do the work, and then I get the fuck out.' This is the short version; in full, the opening minutes of our conversation involve Curtis free-associating through references to the memory of her mother and stepfather missing her performance in a school musical in Connecticut; the negotiating aims of the makeup artists' union; the nickname by which she would like to be known if she ever becomes a grandmother ('Fifo' – short for 'first in first out'); and what, exactly, her earliness is about. Not, as you might imagine, anxiety, but: 'You know, honestly, I've done enough analysis of all this – it's control.' Curtis knows her early arrivals strike some people as rude. 'My daughter Annie says: 'People aren't ready for you.' And I basically say: 'Well, that's their problem. They should be ready.'' 'That's their problem' is, along with, 'I don't give a shit any more' a classic Curtis expression that goes a long way towards explaining why so many people love her – and they really do love her – a woman who on top of charming us for decades in a clutch of iconic roles, has crossed over, lately, into that paradoxical territory in which she is loved precisely because she's done worrying about what others think of her. Specifically, she doesn't care about the orthodoxies of an industry in which women are shamed into having cosmetic surgery before they hit 30. Curtis has spoken of having a procedure herself at 25, following a comment made on the set of a film that her eyes were 'baggy'. Regretting it, she has in the years since made the genuinely outlandish and inspiring decision to wear her hair grey and eschew surgical tweaks. That Curtis is the child of two Hollywood icons, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, and thus an insider since birth, either makes this more surprising or else explains it entirely, but either way, she has become someone who appears to operate outside the usual Hollywood rules. 'I have become quite brusque,' says Curtis, of people making demands on her time when she's not open for business. 'And I have no problem saying: 'Back the fuck off.'' I can believe it. During the course of our conversation, Curtis's attitude – which is broadly charming, occasionally hectoring and appears to be driven by a general and sardonic belligerence – is that of someone pushing back against a lifetime of misconceptions, from which, four months shy of her 67th birthday, she finally feels herself to be free. Curtis is in a glorious phase of her career, one that, despite starring in huge hits – from the Halloween franchise and A Fish Called Wanda (1988) to Trading Places (1983), True Lies (1994) and the superlative Knives Out (2019) – has always eluded her. The fact is, celebrity aside, Curtis has never been considered a particularly heavyweight actor or been A-list in the conventional way. At its most trivial, this has required her to weather small slights, such as being ignored by the Women In Film community, with its tedious schedule of panels and events. ('I still exist outside of Women In Film,' she snaps. 'They're not asking me to their lunch.') And, more broadly, has seen Curtis completely overlooked by the Oscars since she shot Halloween, her first movie, at the age of 19. Well, all that has changed now. In 2023, Curtis won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in the genre-bending movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. That same year, she appeared in a single episode of the multi-award-winning TV show The Bear as Donna Berzatto, the alcoholic mother of a large Italian clan – she calls it 'the most exhilarating creative experience I will ever have'. Anyone who saw this extraordinary performance is still talking about it, and it led to a larger role on the show. Doors that had always been shut to Curtis flew open. For years, she had tried and failed to get movie and TV projects off the ground. Now, she lists the forthcoming projects she had a hand in bringing to the screen: 'Freakier Friday, TV series Scarpetta, survival movie The Lost Bus, four other TV shows and two other movies.' She has become a 'prolific producer', she says, as well as a Hollywood elder and role model. All of which makes Curtis laugh – the fact that, finally, 'at 66, I get to be a boss'. You'd better believe she'll be making the most of it. The movie Curtis and I are ostensibly here to talk about is Freakier Friday, the follow-up to Freaky Friday, the monster Disney hit of 2003 in which Curtis and Lindsay Lohan appeared as a mother and daughter who switch bodies with hilarious consequences. I defy anyone who enjoyed the first film not to feel both infinitely aged by revisiting the cast more than 20 years on, and also not to find it a wildly enjoyable return. The teenage Lohan of the first movie is now a 37-year-old mother of 15-year-old Harper, played by Julia Butters, while the introduction of a second teenager – Harper's mortal enemy Lily, played by Sophia Hammons – allows for a four-way body swap in which Curtis-as-grandma is inhabited by Hammons' British wannabe influencer. If it lacks the simplicity of the first movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to taking my 10-year-old girls when it opens next month. It is also a movie that presented Curtis with an odd set of challenges. She has a problem with 'pretty'. When Curtis herself was a teenager, she says, she was 'cute but not pretty'. She watched both her parents' careers atrophy after their youthful good looks started to wane. Part of her shtick around earliness is an almost existential refusal to live on Hollywood's timeline, because, she says: 'I witnessed my parents lose the very thing that gave them their fame and their life and their livelihood, when the industry rejected them at a certain age. I watched them reach incredible success and then have it slowly erode to where it was gone. And that's very painful.' As a result, says Curtis: 'I have been self-retiring for 30 years. I have been prepping to get out, so that I don't have to suffer the same as my family did. I want to leave the party before I'm no longer invited.' In the movie, Curtis was allowed to keep her grey hair (although it looks shot through with blond) but her trademark pixie cut was replaced with something longer and softer. I take it with a pinch when she says things such as, 'I'm an old lady' and, 'I'm going to die soon' – even in age-hating Hollywood, this seems overegged – but one takes the point that she found the conventional aesthetic demands of Freakier Friday, in which she 'had to look pretty, I had to pay attention to [flattering] lighting, and clothes and hair and makeup and nails', much harder than playing a dishevelled alcoholic in The Bear. On the other hand, Curtis is a pro and, of course, gave Disney the full-throated, zany-but-still-kinda-hot grandma they wanted. (There is a scene in which she tries to explain various board games – Boggle, Parcheesi – to the owl-eyed teens that reminds you just how fine a comic actor she is.) It's the story of how Freakier Friday came about, however, that really gives insight into who Curtis is: an absolute, indefatigable and inveterate hustler. 'I am owning my hustle, now,' she says and is at her most impressive, her most charming and energised when she is talking about the hustle. To wit: Curtis was on a world tour promoting the Halloween franchise that made her name and that enjoyed a hugely successful reboot in 2018, when something about the crowd response struck her. 'In every single city I went to, the only movie they asked me about besides Halloween was Freaky Friday – was there going to be a sequel?' When she got back from the tour, she called Bob Iger, Disney's CEO. 'I said: 'Look, I don't know if you're planning on doing [a sequel], but Lindsay is old enough to have a teenager now, and I'm telling you the market for that movie exists.'' As the project came together, Curtis learned that Disney was planning to release Freakier Friday straight to streaming. 'And I called Bob Iger' – it's at this point you start to imagine Iger seeing Curtis's name flash up on his phone and experiencing a slight drop in spirits – 'and I called David Greenbaum [Disney Live Action president], and I called Asad Ayaz, who's the head of marketing, and I said: 'Guys, I have one word for you: Barbie. If you don't think the audience that saw Barbie is going to be the audience that goes and sees Freakier Friday, you're wrong.'' This is what Curtis means when she refers to herself as 'a marketing person', or 'a weapon of mass promotion', and she has done it for ever. It's what she did in 2002 when she lobbied More magazine to let her pose in her underwear and no makeup – 'They didn't come to me and say: 'Hey Jamie, how about you take off your clothes and show America that you're chubby?' The More magazine thing happened because I said it should happen, and I even titled the piece: True Thighs.' And it is what she was doing a few weeks before our interview when she turned up to the photoshoot in LA bearing a bunch of props she had ordered from Amazon, including oversized plastic lips and a blond wig. Curtis says: 'There are many, many actresses who love the dress up, who love clothes, who love fashion, who love being a model. I. Hate. It. I feel like I am having to wrestle with your idea of me versus my idea of me. Because I've worked hard to establish who I am, and I don't want you to … I have struggled with it my whole life.' Curtis is emphatic that her ideas be accurately interpreted and, before our meeting, sent an email via her publicist explaining her thinking behind the shoot. 'The wax lips is my statement against plastic surgery. I've been very vocal about the genocide of a generation of women by the cosmeceutical industrial complex, who've disfigured themselves. The wax lips really sends it home.' Obviously, the word 'genocide' is very strong and risks causing offence, given its proper meaning. To Curtis, however, it is accurate. 'I've used that word for a long time and I use it specifically because it's a strong word. I believe that we have wiped out a generation or two of natural human [appearance]. The concept that you can alter the way you look through chemicals, surgical procedures, fillers – there's a disfigurement of generations of predominantly women who are altering their appearances. And it is aided and abetted by AI, because now the filter face is what people want. I'm not filtered right now. The minute I lay a filter on and you see the before and after, it's hard not to go: 'Oh, well that looks better.' But what's better? Better is fake. And there are too many examples – I will not name them – but very recently we have had a big onslaught through media, many of those people.' Well, at the risk of sounding harsh, one of the people implicated by Curtis's criticism is Lindsay Lohan, her Freakier Friday co-star and a woman in her late 30s who has seemingly had a lot of cosmetic procedures at a startlingly young age (though Lohan denies having had surgery). In terms of mentoring Lohan, with whom Curtis remained friends after making the first film, she says: 'I'm bossy, very bossy, but I try to mind my own business. She doesn't need my advice. She's a fully functioning, smart woman, creative person. Privately, she's asked me questions, but nothing that's more than an older friend you might ask.' But given the stridency of Curtis's position on cosmetic surgery, don't younger women feel judged in her presence? Isn't it awkward? 'No. No. Because I don't care. It doesn't matter. I'm not proselytising to them. I would never say a word. I would never say to someone: what have you done? All I know is that it is a never-ending cycle. That, I know. Once you start, you can't stop. But it's not my job to give my opinion; it's none of my business.' As for Lohan, Curtis says: 'I felt tremendous maternal care for Lindsay after the first movie, and continued to feel that. When she'd come to LA, I would see her. She and I have remained friends, and now we're sort of colleagues. I feel less maternal towards her because she's a mommy now herself and doesn't need my maternal care, and has, obviously, a mom – Dina's a terrific grandma.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion The general point about the horror of trying to stay young via surgery is sensible and, of course, I agree. At the back of my mind, however, I have a small, pinging reservation that I can't quite put my finger on. I suggest to Curtis that she has natural advantages by virtue of being a movie star, which, on the one hand, of course, makes her more vulnerable around issues of ageing, but on the other hand, she's naturally beautiful and everyone loves her, and most average women who – 'I have short grey hair!' she protests. 'Other women can –' They can, of course! But you must have a physical confidence that falls outside the normal – 'No! No!' She won't have it. 'I feel like you're trying to say: 'You're in some rarefied air, Jamie.'' I'm not! She responds: 'By the way, genetics – you can't fuck with genetics. You want to know where my genetics lie?' She lifts up an arm and wobbles her bingo wings at me. 'Are you kidding me? By the way, you're not going to see a picture of me in a tank top, ever.' This is Curtis's red line. 'I wear long-sleeve shirts; that's just common sense.' She gives me a beady look. 'I challenge you that I'm in some rarefied air.' I think about this afterwards to try and clarify my objection, which I guess is this: that the main reason women in middle age dye their hair is to stave off invisibility, which, with the greatest respect, is not among the veteran movie star's problems. But it's a minor quibble given what I genuinely believe is Curtis's helpful and iconoclastic gesture. And when she talks about cosmetic surgery as addiction, she should know. Curtis was an alcoholic until she got sober at 40 and is emphatic and impressive on this subject, the current poster woman – literally: she's on signs across LA for an addiction charity with the tagline: 'My bravest thing? Getting sober'. I'm curious about how her intense need for control worked, in those years long ago, alongside her addiction? 'I am a controlled addict,' she says. 'In recovery we talk about how, in order to start recovering, you have to hit what you call a 'bottom'. You have to crash and burn, lose yourself and your family and your job and your resources in order to know that the way you were living didn't work. I refer to myself as an Everest bottom; I am the highest bottom I know. When I acknowledged my lack of control, I was in a very controlled state. I lost none of the external aspects of my life. The only thing I had lost was my own sense of myself and self-esteem.' Externally, during those years of addiction, she seemed to be doing very well. Her career boomed. She married Christopher Guest, the actor, screenwriter and director, and they have two children and have stayed married for more than 40 years. (There's no miracle to this. As Curtis puts it, wryly: 'It's just that we have chosen to stay married. And be married people. And we love each other. And I believe we respect each other. And I'm sure there's a little bit of hatred in there, too.') I wonder, then, whether Curtis's success during those years disguised how serious a situation she was in with her addiction? 'There's no one way to be an addict or an alcoholic. People hide things – I was lucky, and I am ambitious, and so I never let that self-medication get in the way of my ambition or work or creativity. It never bled through. No one would ever have said that had been an issue for me.' Where was the cost? 'The external costs are awful for people; but the internal costs are more sinister and deadly, because to understand that you are powerless over something other than your own mind and creativity is something. But that was a long time ago. I'm an old lady now.' She is doing better than ever. With the Oscar under her belt, Curtis has just returned in the new season of The Bear and has a slew of projects – many developed with Jason Blum, the veteran horror producer with whom she has a development deal – coming down the line. Watching her bravura performance as Donna Berzatto, I did wonder if playing an alcoholic had been in any way traumatic. She flashes me a look of pure vehemence. 'Here's what's traumatic: not being able to express your range as an artist. That's traumatic. To spend your entire public life holding back range. And depth. And complexity. And contradiction. And rage. And pain. And sorrow.' She builds momentum: 'And to have been limited to a much smaller palette of creative, emotional work. 'For me, it was an unleashing of 50 years of being a performer who was never considered to have any range. And so the freedom, and the confidence, that I was given by Chris [Storer, the show's creator], and the writing, which leads you … everywhere you need to go – it was exhilarating.' She continues: 'It took no toll. The toll has been 40 years of holding back something I know is here.' Well, there she is, the Curtis who thrills and inspires. Among the many new projects is The Lost Bus, a survival disaster movie for AppleTV+ about a bus full of children trying to escape wildfires. The idea came to Curtis while she was driving on the freeway, listening to an NPR report on the deadly wildfires of 2018 in the small town of Paradise, California. She pulled over and called Blum; the movie, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, drops later this year. For another project, she managed to persuade Patricia Cornwell, the superstar thriller writer, to release the rights for her Scarpetta series, which, as well as producing, Curtis will star in alongside Nicole Kidman. This burst of activity is something Curtis ascribes to the 'freedom' she derived from losing 'all vanity', and over the course of our conversation 'freedom' is the word she most frequently uses to describe what she values in life. Freedom is a particularly loaded and precious concept for those on the other side of addiction and, says Curtis, 'I have dead relatives; I have parents who both had issues with drinking and drugs. I have a dead sibling. I have numerous friends who never found the freedom, which is really the goal – right? Freedom.' It's a principle that also extends to her family. Curtis's daughter Ruby, 29, is trans, and I ask how insulated they are from Donald Trump's aggressively anti-trans policies. 'I want to be careful because I protect my family,' says Curtis. 'I'm an outspoken advocate for the right of human beings to be who they are. And if a governmental organisation tries to claim they're not allowed to be who they are, I will fight against that. I'm a John Steinbeck student – he's my favourite writer – and there's a beautiful piece of writing from East of Eden about the freedom of people to be who they are. Any government, religion, institution trying to limit that freedom is what I need to fight against.' There are many, many other subjects to cycle through, including Curtis's friendship with Mariska Hargitay, whose new documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, hit Curtis particularly hard, not least because 'Jayne's house was next to Tony Curtis's house – that big pink house on Carolwood Drive that Tony Curtis lived in and Sonny and Cher owned prior to him.' (I don't know if referring to her dad as 'Tony Curtis,' is intended to charm, but it does.) There's also a school reunion she went to over a decade ago; the feeling she has of being 'a 14-year-old energy bunny'; the fact we've been pronouncing 'Everest' wrong all this time; the role played by lyrics from Justin Timberlake's Like I Love You in her friendship with Lindsay Lohan; and the 'Gordian knot' of what happens when not being a brand becomes your brand. Curtis could, one suspects, summon an infinite stream of enthusiasms and – perhaps no better advertisement for ageing, this – share urgent thoughts about every last one of them. In an industry in which people weigh their words, veil their opinions and pander to every passing ideal, she has gone in a different direction, one unrestrained by the usual timidities. Or as she puts it with her typical take-it-or-leave-it flatness, 'the freedom to have my own mind, wherever it's going to take me. I'm comfortable with that journey and reject the rest.' Freakier Friday is in Australian cinemas from 7 August and from 8 August in the UK and US Jamie Lee Curtis wears: (leopard look) jacket and skirt, by Rixo; T-shirt and belt, both by AllSaints; boots, by Dr Martens; tights, by Wolford; (tartan look) suit, by Vivienne Westwood, from tights, by Wolford; shoes, by By Far. Fashion stylist: Avigail Collins at Forward Artists. Set stylist: Stefania Lucchesi at Saint Luke Artists. Hair: Sean James at Aim Artists. Makeup: Erin Ayanian Monroe at Cloutier Remix.
