‘M“Amazing,” “Extraordinary,” “The Best.” Step forward 59-year-old dynamo Kamala Harris. She has rebuilt the country with lightning speed, presenting it as a byword for optimism, hope and patriotism. For the rest of us, Kamala’s gift is her joy, her vitality and the way she holds up 60 strong and glorious even as she turns 70 in just a few months. Welcome to a new golden age.
She is confident in her power, exudes experience and expertise, and is full of the vitality of a woman who knows her time has come. No more waiting in the green room while Sleepy Joe takes command and screws it up. No more hiding a smile or stifling a laugh. She’s here, and she has a platform. Plus, the vice president looks noticeably younger than Donald Trump, 78, and Joe Biden, 81. Barack Obama may have been 12 years younger than Kamala when he ran for president, but thanks to the energy-sapping Trump/Biden effect, Kamala’s 60 now looks like the beginning of youth.
It’s no coincidence that the former prosecutor turns 60 next month, just weeks before she may become the first black woman president of the United States. There’s a party to look forward to before the big event on November 5th! On her 60th birthday, Kamala joins a growing list of 60-somethings who are injecting vigor, momentum and a “we can do it” feeling into turning 60. These are not overnight successes, but people who have been working hard for a long time, as comedian Wanda Sykes, who turned 60 in March, made clear: “I’m finally doing what I said I wanted to do when I started… It’s taken me over 30 years to get to where I’m doing what I said I wanted to do.”
Some people manage to look sober, somehow, or like newscaster Fiona Bruce, by the power of Mother Nature. “I don’t care about aging,” she said ahead of her 60th birthday in April. “I don’t look in the mirror and think, ‘Oh, I’ve got some wrinkles again,’ I just think, ‘This is great.’ I’m definitely counting my blessings.” Others need a bit more effort. In contrast, singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz wears skin-tight black leather trousers and puts in eye-popping gym workouts. Perpetually youthful actor Rob Lowe has an almost fanatical focus on a low-carb, high-protein diet. Meanwhile, 60-year-old former model and businesswoman Elle “The Body” Macpherson says 20 years of sobriety have led to “energy” and “peace of mind.” Recently sober Brad Pitt just wants to “stay happy and healthy.”
“We’re seeing more and more people approaching 60 and getting into fitness for the first time,” says Sarah Lindsay, a three-time Olympian, transformation trainer and founder of Roar Fitness gym, who says that women now outnumber men on her 200-strong client list in central London. “It’s a real cultural change. People are finally understanding that weight training is important to ageing healthily. Men aren’t coming in saying they want to work out on the beach,” and both men and women are becoming more “patient,” she says. “It’s an attitude. We’re seeing people really living their lives and not accepting that they’re getting older.”
It’s all about attitude. Actress Juliette Binoche is bringing what she calls “fierce energy” into the new decade. “Turning 60? It’s almost like turning 40,” she says. “I feel like I can keep taking risks, because life usually teaches me what I need to take risks and make them pay off.”
It’s also a time to seize new opportunities, whether that’s to change the world (Belarusian human rights activist Alex Bialiatski will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, aged 59) or simply to embrace new challenges (like beauty entrepreneur Trinny Woodall, who is about to open her first flagship store on Kings Road in Chelsea).
Bridgerton star and firebrand Adwoa Andoh, 61, spent years as a freelance actor before landing a role in the hit Netflix series. When she turned 60 last year, she made a point of “consciously noticing what’s important in life, like the people I love and the causes I support.”
I will continue to take risks. Life is teaching me what it takes to take risks.
So, in addition to Kamala-level vitality and infectious energy, the power of 60 comes from identifying what’s meaningful to you and being true to yourself. For author Bernardine Evaristo, winning the Booker Prize at 60 – the first black woman to do so – has brought about “a career Christmas every day since.” But, she adds, “Sixty years of not being famous is long enough to stay grounded in yourself and to feel a deep sense of gratitude when good things happen.”
Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, have a different vibe than Gen Xers. Maybe it’s because they’ve had a relatively easy life. Fixed pensions, bargain-priced homes, all of this helps them smell the roses. “I’m almost 67. Yay,” exclaims Philippa Perry, a self-described “vain baby boomer,” author and psychotherapist. She joined OM as a problem-solving counsellor at 63 and her career has been going strong ever since. She’s paid off her mortgage, “got a little pension coming in” and is working. But, as Sandra Bullock likened it to climbing a mountain, she says her 60s feel great because her 50s were hard. “The middle years before 60 are often the hardest years of your life because you’re dealing with the responsibilities of caring for teenage kids and aging parents on top of a full-time job. Hang in there, Gen Xers. It’s going to get better,” she says. And here’s why: “Older people tend to be better at regulating their emotions. They’ve had years of experience managing their emotions and have developed coping mechanisms that allow them to deal with life’s challenges. They embody helpful philosophies such as, ‘This too shall pass.'” Jodie Foster, 62, can attest to that. The director and actress says she “struggled” in her 50s. “Turning 60 was the best change I’ve ever made,” she says, adding, “The day I turned 60 was one of the best days of my life.”
But we mustn’t forget that our society is ageing, so Gen Xers will have to work longer and therefore be healthier. Sarah Harper, professor of gerontology at Oxford University and president-elect of the international NGO HelpAge, says rising life expectancy partly explains why 60 no longer means old age: “Globally, life expectancy at birth has risen from 46 in 1950 to 73 today, and in high-income countries such as North America and Europe, life expectancy at age 60 is now over 80 for men and over 85 for women.”
“Sixty should be seen as a milestone that brings confidence, wisdom, and freedom,” says Tony Barnbrook (Train with Tone), a bodybuilder and trainer who specializes in training men in their 50s and 60s. “Turning 60 can be a new chapter full of opportunity. Most of my clients in their 60s are still working, traveling, and pursuing their passions.” That includes Tom Cruise (62), who plans to perform his own stunts well into his 80s. Amazing.
Times have certainly changed, says Sarah Harper: “Only a generation or so ago, 60 was considered the end of an older woman’s active life, but now we know that women in their 60s in many North American and European countries will remain economically active for the next few years, will be active caregivers for older relatives and grandchildren, and will continue to play important roles in their communities. We also know that if educated women in their 60s stay healthy and active, they can delay the onset of chronic disease and decline into their late 70s or early 80s.”
But knowing your limitations is another bonus of turning 60, says philosopher Julien Baggini: “Overall, those who perform well in their 60s tend to be those who are aware of what they can no longer do as much as what they have become good at. They don’t try to compete with younger people in stamina, strength, agility, mental or physical ability, but they know they have acquired skills and experience that younger people don’t, and they try to apply them calmly.”
Hmm. Bagini’s wisdom seems somehow at odds with today’s excitable, body-conscious sixty-somethings. I point him to an Instagram reel from Friends star Courteney Cox, made just after her 60th birthday. She’s seen emerging from a kitchen freezer in a black bikini, face mask and baseball cap. “What?” she says to the camera, very deadpan. “Cryotherapy.” The cut shows her lifting weights on what appears to be a cross-trainer. “I just had my birthday,” she says. “I don’t like the number on my birthday, but I obviously don’t have a choice. I just have to do my best.”
Well, good for her, because, as fellow workout fanatic Lenny Kravitz said shortly before turning 60 in May, “It’s all about longevity now,” training hard “like an elite athlete,” and “mentally preparing. It all works together. Glory to glory.” Amen, Len. Because, despite cognitive decline, brain health is the top priority. Playing chess, learning the French horn, all of that will go on the list over time.
But so is knowing the right things and doing the right things. It’s important to name the hard things that come with aging, as well as the good things. For Kamala’s trailblazer, Michelle Obama, now 62, that means naming menopause. “There’s no shame in talking about the fact that you’re going to be 60… How are you going to stay sexual and feel energized?” she said, noting that “some doctors don’t know about these things,” adding that “you have to have those conversations.” “You don’t want your daughters to grow up and be surprised by their bodies, right?”
For musician and parent Nick Cave, 66, the third quarter of his life has brought great loss, but also moments of transcendence and new creative expression through ceramics. His youngest son, Arthur, died in 2015, aged 15; his eldest, Jethro, raised by his mother in Australia, died seven years later, aged 31. He speaks of being “radically changed” by the losses, and of the joy that “sprung up unexpectedly and shockingly from understanding loss and suffering.” The song “Joy,” from his new album with the Bad Seeds, “Wild God,” is a testament to that understanding: “We’ve all been through so much grief. Now is the time for joy.”
Kamala knows it for a different reason. As her equally ebullient 60-year-old deputy prime minister, Tim Walz, puts it, “she radiates joy.” Our rather low-key 61-year-old prime minister, Keir Starmer, may not be ebullient, but he, too, is proving the power of 60. He’s in top form, bringing a tenacity and moral compass to the job that we can all learn from. To each his own; to each his own power of 60.