Getting older can be a drag. Lucinha Lins, 69, knows this but says it’s not her case. “Of course my skin is not the same anymore, I’m not the kitten anymore, but for me, the best moment is today, the now”, says the actress, currently playing in São Paulo with the play “As Meninas Velhas” . The show uses humor to bring the issue of ageism into the debate.
The mention of the cat has its raison d’être and goes beyond the adjective used to classify young women who stand out aesthetically in the crowd: in the 1980s, Lucinha was in the cast of the musical “Os Saltimbancos Trapalhões”, sang “História de Uma Gata” (“We cats were born poor / But we were born free…”) and Brazil fell in love.
“To this day, they ask me to sing, it’s crazy”, he says. Muse of a generation, it took her two years to give in to the insistent appeals of “Playboy” magazine. She posed in 1984, her way: no frontal nude, in an essay inspired by photos of Marilyn Monroe.
The decade was especially fruitful professionally for Lucinha, then omnipresent in films, Globo specials, musicals, and even as a presenter of the children’s Lupu Limpim Clapa Topô, on Rede Manchete, in partnership with the actor, set designer, costume designer and former member of the group. Dzi Croquettes Cláudio Tovar. The two are married to this day.
In an interview with F5, Lucinha – mother of four children (Luciana, Cláudio and João, from her marriage with Ivan Lins, and Beatriz, with Tovar) and grandmother of three boys – proudly remembers that time, but says she is not nostalgic. “Now I’m the hottie, walking to the old cat. And that’s okay. I have my spectacular moments these days, approaching 70.”
How do the characters in the play age and what do they have in common with real-life Lucinha?
They are four retired women, lifelong friends. Faithful, they meet every day and are interested in each other, they care. They are a lesson in joy and hope. I’m also like that. What happened, happened. I live today. The best moment in the world is now.
Don’t you miss the 1980s, when you were at the height of your career?
There’s no such thing as ‘Oh, how good it was to be 30’. Now I’m almost 70 and those are other, equally wonderful times. To this day I’m asked to sing ‘Story of a Cat’ and it makes me emotional, but I’m not nostalgic. Aging is part of nature, not a problem. Menopause…
What’s with her?
If there’s a disaster in a woman’s life, it’s called menopause. It messes with us too much. I got insomnia, I was irritated, I lost patience for anything. It got to the point where one of my kids asked, ‘Mommy, is everything okay? You’re not talking to us anymore. It’s barking.”
What is it like to be married for so long?
When I think that Cláudio and I have been together for 39 years, I think: ‘It’s a lot’. But it is simpler than it seems when there is admiration, passion. We talk a lot, like to be together. My mother always asks, ‘How do you have so much to talk about?’ I think that counts a lot.
And the libido?
I’m 69, he’s 78. Life at that age changes a lot but, for God’s sake, don’t tell me that it’s all over sexually. It’s not like this. Things change and we adapt.
A video you recorded in support of Operação Lava Jato and the then judge Sergio Moro went viral in 2018. In it, you said, among other things, that you were not afraid of “looking ugly”. Do you still think so?
I do not regret it. I find it regrettable what we are experiencing today. How ignorant we are! How ignorant Brazilians are! And I’m not just talking about Bolsonaro, honey. I don’t like Lula at all either, and I think this third way is a decoy. Lava Jato was a magnificent moment in the country and I can’t understand how all those arrested at that time are now released. It’s an absurd.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
