After years of keeping her actual age to herself, Laverne Cox is proud to say that she will be turning 50 this spring. In a cover story with the beauty publication Byrdie, the actress opened up about when she first started to hide the truth about her age, which was when she was in her late 20s and looking to satisfy the wishes of a younger partner at the time. As the years went by and her stardom grew, she told the magazine she began to feel some shame about keeping her age a secret.
“I had all these milestone birthdays where I was lying about my age,” she said. “Now, I get to turn 50 and be openly 50.” And as Black trans women in the United States are being murdered at alarming rates, with a life expectancy in the mid-30s, there will be no more hiding the truth for Cox. “It’s a statistical miracle I’m still alive.”
Her only hope for the big 5-0 is that she will enter her fifth decade with style, grace, and serving full ferocity like a few of her quinquagenarian faves. “I have this fantasy of being ‘J.Lo 50’ or ‘Naomi Campbell 50,'” she remarked, “where I’m snatched and I’m looking flawless.”
After turning heads non-stop during recent Paris Fashion Week events, it’s clear that she’s definitely going to make that hope a reality! Happy early birthday to this queen.