But it was her own resilience,
as much as James's financial acumen, that helped save her.
"When
you have two small children. you can't wallow in self-pity
and you can't fall down a tunnel of depression. It wasn't
an option," she explains. "You need to live in
the moment, not what's gone, or what should or could have
been. If you go through something really traumatic, get through
the anger, frustration, fear and disappointment as fast as
you can and then you just go. 'Okay - next.' My mother's
always been that way and that's always been the norm in my
house. Nobody has ever hidden under the covers and said.
'I'm giving up on life."
It was also around this time that she discovered a passion
for painting, which she has since developed into a second
career.
"Art is definitely therapeutic. All I knew when
I first started was that I could go to a place where I had
no pain no trauma, and I was really happy. I'd lose myself
for hours."
She's even managed to forgive her ex-husband. "I
personally don't feel that bearing grudges and holding
pain helps me," she reasons. "You have to process
everything and let go of it."
With the success of Wedding Crashers and a new film Blind
Guy out next year, Jane's film caree is enjoying something
of a renaissance, but one senses that her world wouldn't
collapse if the roles stopped coming in.|
"I love acting, but I don't rely on it to earn a
living or for my feeling of self-worth," she reveals.
And she's refreshingly pragmatic about the limited parts
on offer for women her age in Hollywood. "If people
aren't interested in seeing the predicament of a middle-aged
woman, there nothing I can do about it," she says.
But ask her if she's happier now than she's ever been
and she smiles.
"I think you have a better idea of
what life is about and what life has to offer as you get
older. I'm not afraid of trying new things, I'm not stuck
in any rut, and I never have been. I enjoy challenges and
I'm challenged every day.
Interview Rosalind Powell
© Hello Magazine
