Photo: Angela Cappetta
Heather Grahamhas played everything from a stripper to a doctor. Offscreen, one role she’s chosen not to take on: mom.
“I think we all have different paths,” Graham, 53, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “You just have to embrace the one that you’re on. If, somehow, I had had kids, I’m sure that would’ve been cool. But at the moment, not having kids, I do feel free. And I get a lot of sleep. That is pretty great.”
TheOn a Wing and a Prayerstar knows her decision doesn’t align with societal norms.
“I do feel like as a woman, culturally, you’re not allowed to say, ‘I didn’t want to have kids. Because it’s like, what’s wrong with you?'” Graham tells PEOPLE. “I think as a man it’s like, oh yeah, cool, you didn’t want to have kids. Now, women are getting more free to just make their own choices.”
Boris Martin/MGM/Courtesy Everett
The actress believes “if you’re meant to have kids, you have kids,” and that since she didn’t “the universe gives you someone or something to nurture.”
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“I don’t feel that I’m missing anything,” the Wisconsin native says. “I do sometimes feel like my projects are little kids; I have started to get more involved in producing and writing and directing.”
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“It’s hard, but it’s super fulfilling,” she continues. “It’s really exciting to want to tell a story that you really care about.”
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While Graham feels confident in the path she has chosen, she admits one mysterious role that she passed on keeps her up at night.
Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Red Sea International Film Festival
“Sometimes I do wake up in the morning thinking about it, going, why didn’t you do that movie?” the two-time SAG nominee says. “I am embarrassed to even say [the name of] it because it’s so dumb that I didn’t do it. But I believe that you’re on your path and I’m grateful. I’m so happy that I got to be an actress.”
As she’s grown up, though, Graham likes to look at life holistically.
“Almost like career is secondary,” she says. “I was super ambitious as a younger person, but my most important goal is to enjoy my life. It’s so much more fulfilling than trying so hard to be somewhere in your career. Of course, I still am ambitious, but whenever I can really relax and get into a place of gratitude, then I feel like I really can enjoy all the good things in my life, which I have a lot.”
On a Wing and a Prayeris streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
source: people.com
