EXCLUSIVE: Joanna Lumley says she believes secret to not ageing is not eating meat as she turns 80
Joanna Lumley, who celebrates her milestone birthday on May 1, talks career highlights, ageing and always finding ‘a gaggle of Patsy fans dressed to the nines’
The star feels both ‘delighted and overwhelmed’ to be seen as an icon by many(Image: James Veysey/Shutterstock)
Joanna Lumley may be turning 80, but the national treasure believes ‘age is just a number’ – and she’d rather look ‘forward than back’.
The Absolutely Fabulous star, famed for playing the hard-drinking, chain-smoking Patsy in the hit 90s sitcom, tells the Mirror she has no plans to retire, either. “I am very lucky to have been and continue to be a busy girl, thank god. Long may that continue!”
Regarded as an icon by her many fans, she admits the thought makes her feel both “delighted and… overwhelmed. If you’d told me 40 years ago that I’d have this following, it would have seemed ludicrous”, she says.
Born on May 1, 1946 in Kashmir, India, daughter of a Ghurka officer, Lumley’s early childhood – during which her parents were ‘terrifically light on the reins’ was spent in Hong Kong and Malaysia, before the family returned to England when she was eight.
Lumley started out her career as a photographic model, with no formal training in acting. But she would go on to become one of Britain’s most acclaimed stars, playing skilled spy Purdey in 60s classic The New Avengers, a ‘Bond girl’ in 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and of course, later in her career, the inimitable Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous.
But it’s Patsy she’s most remembered for. “To this day, wherever I go in the world, there is always a gaggle of Patsy fans, often dolled up to the nines and looking terribly glamorous. Very few females. Mostly men!”
There was once a Patsy Stone waxwork created for Madame Tussaud’s, complete with signature cigarette and blonde, bouffant hair.
“Isn’t that great?”, says Lumley. “I’ve never been back since the unveiling. It’s bad enough seeing yourself on screen – seeing yourself in 3D is sort of weird!”
Lumley has long been admired for her natural beauty, and often cites the ‘cheap as chips’ £4 Astral Intensive Moisture Cream as her top beauty hack. But she doesn’t judge anyone that turns to cosmetic surgery in their quest for eternal youth.
“if it’s there and you can afford it darling, go for it. Seriously. If your teeth are bad – get them seen to. If you want the wrinkles removed, go for it. If you feel better for it, then do it. It’s absolutely OK with me!”
Lumley believes you ‘can’t stop time’ – but does credit her vegetarian diet of some four decades for still looking so good.
“I do believe that not eating meat holds back the ageing process. But if vegetarianism is not for you, so be it. My husband Stephen (orchestral conductor Stephen Barlow) isn’t a veggie, and he’s wonderful.
“But most people used to eat meat three times a day – bacon and sausages for breakfast, a chop at lunchtime, a meat dish at night. Who does that these days? That’s a move for the better. Eating so much convenience and junk food definitely isn’t, though.”
Other than Patsy, Lumley – who was awarded the OBE in 1995 and promoted DBE in 2022 for services to drama, entertainment and charitable causes, has had so many stellar acting roles over the years, she finds it hard to pinpoint career highlights.
“That’s hard because I have been in the LOT, darling, everything from On The Buses to Are You Being Served – if my memory is correct, as a German shopper and the other time as a visiting saleswoman. I’ll do anything to earn an honest crust!”
One big TV moment that boosted her early career was appearing on the Morecambe & Wise Show, back in 1969 – and she has very fond memories of working with the late, great comedy legends.
“Oh, Eric and Ernie were wonderful. The hardest thing when working with them was to keep a straight face during the supposed serious bits.”
It came just two years after, aged 21, she welcomed her only child Jamie, now a renowned photographer, after splitting from his father, Michael Claydon – also a photographer, raising him as a single mother.
There was a brief stint on the cobbles in 1973, playing Ken Barlow’s then-girlfriend Elaine Perkins. It only lasted two months, but for Lumley it’s a ‘claim to fame.
“I think everyone should appear in Coronation Street at least once. It’s the best of the soaps. I cherish my scenes with Bill Roach.”
The star, also famed for her human rights activism, particularly the Gurkha Justice Campaign, securing equal rights for all Gurkha veterans who served before 1997 to settle in the UK, has also become acclaimed for her engaging travel documentaries, which have seen her travel the Silk Road, visit Japan and sail down the Nile.
She’d love to do more, though she’s aware of how celebrities constantly jetting off to exotic locations can look.
“I’ve never wanted to be known as ‘That bloody woman who’s always jetting off all over the place!’ It has to be for a relevant reason. And all of us have to be aware of what environmental damage we are doing, when we take a flight.”
Though she has no ideal destination in mind when it comes to travelling with her other half, she knows what it won’t involve.
“I’ve never been someone who can nip off and cheerfully lay on a beach somewhere, doing nothing. Stephen and I prefer to go somewhere for the sheer joy of finding out about the place. It doesn’t matter where, really.”
When she does jet off, there are two things she always makes sure to bring – “My favourite perfume, Rive Gauche, and my husband!”
Lumley tied the knot with conductor and composer Stephen Barlow in Fort William, Scotland in 1986, following a brief union with actor Jeremy Lloyd between 1970 and 1971.
And the secret to their happy 40-year marriage, she tells the Mirror, is simple.
“We don’t like being apart. People often ask what Stephen and I find to talk about, because musicians are considered so cerebral. But I’m still as fascinated to find out about his world as he is mine.”
Asked if she ever takes ‘Patsy’ home to her husband, the answer is a resounding no. “If I turned up with Patsy’s bouffant hair, lipstick smeared across my face, glass in hand and those shoulder pads, Stephen would have left me without a second’s thought!
“Patsy’s a wonderful mask that I can hide behind. She allowed me to do all the outrageous things I would never dare to do.”
Following the much-anticipated Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016, Lumley would love to return to Patsy’ and Edina’s riotous world once more.
“If Jennifer [Saunders] told me tomorrow that she’s written the scripts, I’d jump at the chance. I loved every minute of playing Patsy. Any actress who said she wouldn’t is lying through her teeth!”
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