Stepping off a curb is a big event now, Candice Bergen said recently. That small adjustment captures how the five-time Emmy winner is approaching a May 9 milestone — and why her priorities are clear. In a new interview, bergen talks about the grandchildren who are “the lights of my life, ” the counsel that shaped her, and the grace of getting older.
Bergen on turning 80: “I’m in denial” and stepping carefully
As her 80th birthday nears on May 9, Candice Bergen is blunt about how it feels. “I’m in denial! I’m just in total denial. I don’t even want to talk about it, ” she said. “Being 80 is just unfathomable to me… You feel the same. You feel like you always felt. Except maybe you walk a little bit slower and more carefully, because you don’t want to fall. So stepping off a curb is a big event for me. ” The observation lands quietly — a daily choice to move with care, not a surrender.
Even with the milestone ahead, Bergen keeps the day-to-day anchored in family. Asked about priorities, the response came without hesitation: her grandchildren. “They are the lights of my life, ” she said. In that phrasing is a map of what matters most as the date draws closer: the nearness of the people who keep her present.
Her father’s advice to Candice Bergen: develop gifts beyond beauty
Before any awards or headlining roles, Bergen learned something she still carries: build a life on what can grow. “He encouraged me to develop my other abilities, ” she said of her father’s counsel. “He said, ‘Candy, don’t rely on your beauty, because beauty goes. Develop your gifts. Develop your photography, develop your writing, develop other things and interests, because it makes for a richer life. ’” The words are direct, almost spare. They also sound like a plan she has followed — keep adding skills, keep widening the frame.
That guidance reads differently at this stage. Nearing 80, the advice is no longer precaution; it is proof. The five-time Emmy winner speaks about work with the same curiosity it implies, and about aging with a clarity that leaves room for both reluctance and appreciation — a nod to what she has called the grace of getting older.
Shrinking season 3 brings Candice Bergen to a new episode
Bergen’s curiosity shows up onscreen again with a guest appearance in season 3 of Shrinking, with her episode premiering Wednesday, March 11. She did not wait for the phone to ring. “I asked my agent to call, and she said, ‘Candice loves your show. ’ And they said, ‘OK, we’ll take her on, ’” Bergen recalled.
Her reason for seeking it out was simple. “I just thought it was the smartest show I’d seen in a long time, ” she said. “The whole basis of the show was so intelligent and so clear-sighted. I love Harrison Ford. I love everybody on the show. I just think it’s a really talented show. ” The remarks sketch a performer who still wants to stand where the work feels sharp and alive — a familiar instinct, newly applied.
So the image of that curb returns, less as a limit than as a reminder. For bergen, the step she measures is a way to keep moving, not a reason to stop. With a Shrinking episode arriving Wednesday, March 11, and a birthday on May 9, she has named what will meet her on either side: a set that challenged her, and grandchildren who light the way home.
