Mandy Moore isn’t dreading getting older. In an interview with Parade, the 36-year-old actress reveals why she, unlike many people, is “excited” to age.
“I’m excited about all the collective wisdom and clarity and giving less of a you-know-what as you get older,” she says. “Already, the older I am, the more comfortable I get in my skin. You couldn’t pay me money to go back to the last decade of my life. The 20s were the worst!”
Moore notes that “so much fear and self-doubt” kept her from returning to her musical roots for years, but it was her This Is Us character’s own musical journey that brought that side of her to life again. Moore released Silver Landings, her first album in more than a decade, back in March.
“I thought that phase of my life was over,” she says of music. “Then my character singing on the show put me back in the recording studio, made me sing live in front of the crew. And I was like, ‘I remember how to do this! It feels good!'”
“It started to light a fire in me again, as did being in a healthy and supportive relationship with my husband, who I’m in awe of as a songwriter,” Moore adds of her husband of two years, Dawes musician Taylor Goldsmith.
Just as This Is Us helped Moore to rediscover her love for music, the NBC series continues to draw viewers in for its honest portrayal of the ups and downs of family.
“We live in a very divided world, where we’re forced to choose one side or the other all the time, and I think the show has always existed as neutral territory,” Moore says. “It’s this cathartic, emotional experience that can force us to have uncomfortable conversations that sometimes bring us closer.”
The idea that hard moments will unite people in the long run is one that Moore is holding onto in real life, amid a year that’s seen a global pandemic, political upheaval and a social justice movement.
“I’m hopeful! I feel like a lot of people look at 2020 and are ready to skip on over to 2021, and I totally understand that,” Moore says. “But I think this period of recalibration was long needed and maybe couldn’t have happened unless we found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic and fight for racial justice and all these other pieces of the puzzle that are starting to coalesce.”
“There’s been this awakening in so many senses,” she adds. “I don’t see things returning to the status quo, and that’s good. We need change.”
