• Mandy Moore opened up about embracing aging at 37.
  • Thanks to her role as Rebecca Pearson on This Is Us, the actress has seen herself as a middle-aged woman and a woman in her 80s.
  • “If I am so lucky to age as well as my character has, I will be in hog heaven. I embrace all that's coming because it’s just a sign of a happy, joyful life.”

Thanks to Mandy Moore’s This Is Us character—matriarch Rebecca Pearson—the actress has already seen herself as an 80-year-old by way of prosthetics, glue, and paint. And contrary to what others might assume, she doesn’t mind the transformation. She’s not afraid of aging—on-screen or in real life.

“I think I have a somewhat healthy relationship with aging and my body. I have my good and bad days, but I think there's something so beautiful about the opportunity to get a sneak peek of what the future may have in store for you in terms of the physical,” Moore, 37, recently told Health. “If I am so lucky to age as well as my character has, I will be in hog heaven. I embrace all that's coming because it’s just a sign of a happy, joyful life.”

After six years and six seasons, This Is Us is coming to an end, just in time for the hair and makeup department to have perfectly streamlined Rebecca’s aging transformation. “It started at four hours, and now we have it down to three hours,” Moore explained. “I’ve always loved it because it gives me time to sink down into this character and where she is in her life, and especially during this season of her life—this final chapter.”

Rather than intimidating Moore about getting older, the role of Rebecca has given her an appreciation for life. “I’m embracing aging,” she told Vulture in 2016. “I’m ready for that to happen in the next 30 years. I’m not scared of it.”

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In a 2018 interview with PopSugar, she said she’d never want to return to her 20s. “I’ve loved getting older. I wouldn’t go back to my 20s if you paid me,” she said. “I love being at this stage of my life and the wisdom and clarity that comes with it. It’s fun to look at pictures of myself and see the little lines around my eyes and see my smile lines—I feel like I’ve lived a full and happy life and that’s just another indication of it.”

If she’s being honest, the new mom has always been an old soul. It’s no wonder she feels so comfortable in Rebecca’s aged skin. “I feel like I’m a 62-year-old in a 32-year-old’s body,” she told Byrdie in 2016. “I’m totally ready. I can’t wait until the day when watching 60 Minutes is perfectly acceptable for my age. The aging process: I say bring it on.”

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Kayla Blanton

Kayla Blanton is a freelance writer-editor who covers health, nutrition, and lifestyle topics for various publications including Prevention, Everyday Health, SELF, People, and more. She’s always open to conversations about fueling up with flavorful dishes, busting beauty standards, and finding new, gentle ways to care for our bodies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University with specializations in women, gender, and sexuality studies and public health, and is a born-and-raised midwesterner living in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two spoiled kitties.