Quote Of The Day By Lauren Graham: Everything I've Read About Aging, Whether Fiction Or Nonfiction, Has Been Written By....

Lauren Graham has been known to play an advice-giving single mom on-screen, but her thought-provoking insights extend to her personal life, too. The actor was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 16, 1967, growing up in Virginia with her single father. She earned a degree in English Literature from Barnard College in 1988 before earning a MFA in acting from Southern Methodist University.

While she appeared in small television roles throughout the '90s, Graham is best known for portraying Lorelai Gilmore in the beloved series "Gilmore Girls," earning a Golden Globes nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series in 2002. She also played Sarah Braverman in "Parenthood," co-starring alongside Dax Shepard and Peter Krause. Otherwise, you might recognize the celeb from projects such as "Because I Said So" and "Evan Almighty."

In addition to expanding her career into the realm of production, Graham is also a published author. She made her debut with the novel "Someday, Someday, Maybe" in 2013, while she's also published several memoirs and essay collections filled with humor and heart. With all this in mind, it's not surprising that words from the star has managed to become a quote worth remembering. 

Lauren Graham published her book "Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember" in 2022. Ahead of the official release, she shared the essay "How I Find Humor in Aging" via Time in early November. Throughout her reflections on growing older, the Hollywood figure shared an interesting observation about the disparity between men and women.

"Incidentally, everything I've read about aging, whether fiction or nonfiction, has been written by a woman," she wrote. "Perhaps I have missed the many essays written by men worried about their necks aging because I'm a woman looking to see what women I admire have to say on the subject, or maybe I'm correct that male writers don't spend as much time thinking about their necks as female writers do."

Lauren Graham's quote about the gender disparity in aging-focused literature highlights the societal pressures that women face as they grow older. With such an emphasis placed on youth and beauty, women contend with scrutiny surrounding their appearance in addition to navigating the natural health changes that come with growing older more so than men do. This is directly manifested in the plethora of anti-aging products and allegedly preventative cosmetic procedures marketed towards an expanding demographic of girls and women.

In the essay, Graham acknowledges that conversations about aging have a specific impact on her as an actor with a public-facing persona. Still, she emphasizes that her focus on growing older isn't limited to the effect of Hollywood beauty standards, specifically pointing to the essay written by journalist and director Nora Ephron titled "I Feel Bad About My Neck." Despite Ephron's work in Hollywood being largely behind-the-scenes, the "When Harry Met Sally" co-writer still found the appearance of aging bodies to be a topic of conversation shared with friends.

In this way, Graham's observation about conversations around aging being dominated by women is relevant to women from all walks of life. The "Gilmore Girls" actor doesn't leave her observation on a sour note, though, going on to suggest that humor may be one way that women have learned to cope with the realities of growing older. "Maybe—like my mother did, like Ephron did—turning fears about aging and mortality into contemplation and comedy is just one of those things women are better at," Graham continues. "And perhaps this is not a burden but should be a point of pride. We get to bond with each other with gallows humor and honesty."

• "I'm playing a part, but that part has my arms and my nose, the part is my self, which involves my face and body, and I, of course, [I] always knew that, but it's just quite a thing to wake up every day and worry about getting to work at six in the morning and feel like you're bloated from the sushi you ate last night."

• "We all put so much pressure on ourselves. In terms of getting work done, that is just not helpful. Putting pressure on yourself doesn't help you feel better, look better, do better, or make more money. Pressure and worry have not amounted to whatever degree of success I have or haven't gotten—it's only gotten in my way."

• "The good news for me is my career was never tied to my looks; it's been more about my personality – and I still have that personality."

• "I like to think that Lorelai's outlook—in terms of being a very upbeat person—is similar to mine, so she's the one."

• "When I was a child, I dreamed of being in the theater the way other kids dreamed of becoming firemen or ballerinas. There was a brief respite from this fantasy when I wanted to be a jockey, but in the seventh grade, when I started to tower over all the boys, the dream of acting onstage returned."