She began her career in 1966 as star of the hit show That Girl, and since then Marlo Thomas has earned quite a few accolades as an actress, best-selling author, producer and LGBT rights activist. Her latest book, It Ain’t Over… Till It’s Over: Reinventing Your Life and Realizing Your Dreams Anytime, at Any Age, is a collection of stories about women who started over late in life. Thomas sat down with us to share a few gems about living the life you choose.
FRONTIERS: There s a universal message in your book about not being afraid to start over or reinvent yourself. How does that speak direcy to the gay community?
MARLO THOMAS: The book not only applies to women and men restarting their lives for a job or how they want to work. Live the life you want to live, whatever that is. Some people want to get married and have children and some people don’t.
F: Have you known gay friends who started over?
MT: Claiming your dream and expressing who you really are‹that s definitely starting over. So many of my gay friends had a really rough time telling their parents. I know some gay women who had to tell their husbands. I think those are huge reinvention stories. They said, I can no longer do this. I hope my friends and family can understand and it’s time to reinvent myself and not be some other invention of myself.
F: You ve witnessed a changing landscape for gay rights. What would you like to see next?
MT: I have a very hard time with any kind of government that has laws telling citizens how they should live, who they should have sex with and when they should bear children‹all of those things that seem so completely intimate and singular to a human being. Every time there s a conversation about same-sex marriage or reproductive rights, I just stare. What s it got to do with them? Why are they passing laws about how citizens choose to live their lives? I look forward to there coming a time when government stays out of it. F: Have you ever attended a Pride parade or participated in the festivities?
MT: Oh, yes, Phil [Donahue, her husband] and I have marched in the parade many times in New York. It s always been a part of our lives. I ve helped a lot of my friends dress up like That Girl for the parade. I got my makeup guys to help them.
F: Do you have a message for Los Angeles as we celebrate Pride Month?
MT: The most important thing is to be authentic to yourself. What you feel, who you are, how you want to live‹it s your right as a human being. When my niece got married, she and her bride were walked down the aisle by their fathers, and both wore white dresses. I was proud of them. One of my favorite sayings is Never face the facts or you won t get out of bed in the morning. You can t live with anybody else s facts. You ve got to make your own.
It Ain’t Over… Till It’s Over: Reinventing Your Life and
Realizing Your Dreams Anytime, at Any Age
By Marlo Thomas
400 pp., $27
(Atria Books)