Susan Sarandon on the Motherhood-Mortality Link

Jim Spellman/WireImage

It didn’t take a role in The Lovely Bones to force Susan Sarandon to contemplate the unthinkable scenario of losing a child. Mom to Eva, 24, Jack Henry, 20, and Miles Guthrie, 17, Susan says that the circle of life is something she is acutely aware of.

“When you have kids everyone talks about how much you appreciate life but what they don’t tell you is that the second you have a child you think about death,” the actress, 63, notes in a new interview. “I never thought about my mortality — or anybody else’s — until I had children, and I had my kids really late.”

Alluding to a scene in the bestselling book and now film, Susan adds,

“Then everything is fragile and you can’t even allow yourself the thought of losing a child. And you understand the fragility of your children, especially as they get to the point where they cross the cornfield by themselves.”

At the same time, watching her three children blossom into adults has brought with it a sense of peace. “You have to trust in the universe,” she says, “give them as much love as possible and put a light around them and send them out because you also can’t protect them. That’s the other thing this movie says.”

Eva is Susan’s child with ex-boyfriend Franco Amurri; Jack Henry and Miles are her children with ex-partner Tim Robbins. The Lovely Bones is in theaters now.

Source: Daily Record

Comments

Love her…

- giftbox on February 7th, 2010

She says she had her kids really “late”. At what age did she have Miles?? Btw, Susan you are really beautiful and a very talented actress.

- Tina on February 7th, 2010

Tina, Susan is 63 and Miles is 17 so I’d say she was approximately 46 years old for him and then 43 when she had Jack Henry and 39 when she had Ava.

- Laura on February 7th, 2010

Tina, Susan had Eva at 38, Jack at 43 and Miles at 46 or something along those lines.

- Brianne on February 7th, 2010

Did she have her 2 sons naturally, with no help because it’s hard to beleive someone getting pregnant at 43 and even 46!

- Laura on February 8th, 2010

She hit the nail on the head with that parent-mortality discussion. So true.

Anyway, one of my favorite actresses and she sounds like a wonderful parent.

- Mari on February 8th, 2010

Does it matter what methods she used to get pregant, if any, other than good old fashioned sex?

- michelle on February 8th, 2010

Love her quote…she’s right on. She sounds like she’s an awesome mom.

- Jen on February 8th, 2010

My grandmother got pregnant at 46 she thought she was going through menopause. They call my Aunt Sue the oops baby. My father, my aunts are all in the sixties and seventies. She is in her late 40s. My mother is 66 and her youngest brother is two years older then my sister. My other grandmother was 43 when she had my uncle paul. It can happen naturally and this was before all the fertility craze.

- Kate on February 9th, 2010