Sharon Horgan has voiced concern over the resurgence of extremely thin bodies on screen, stating she hates that her daughters are witnessing this trend. The 56-year-old Irish screenwriter, comedian, and actress made the comments while promoting her latest series, Youth, which debuts on HBO Max in the UK and Ireland on September 21.
From Pulling to Youth: A Career Spanning Two Decades
Horgan's career began in the early 2000s with no grand plan to document the stages of her life on screen. Her breakout sitcom, Pulling, was a semi-autobiographical comedy about a woman entering her 30s in the city, with nothing working out as expected. 'My 20s had been disappointing, and my 30s were going the same way, living in shared accommodation, in a disappointing relationship, with a job I didn’t like,' she told Metro.
A decade later, as a mother to two young daughters, she created Catastrophe (co-starring Rob Delaney) and Motherland, both offering raw depictions of the messiness of raising children and 'just trying to survive.' Now, in her 50s, Horgan is promoting Youth, which she describes as a snapshot of this stage of life.
Youth: Exploring Life at 50
In Youth, Horgan plays Alex, a woman trapped in a friends-with-benefits situationship with the 'institutionally single' 40-something Patrick (Rupert Friend). Alex is navigating the dating pool, dealing with a literary agency job where her best friend Sam (Sharlene Whyte) is her boss, and managing her 18-year-old son Ruari (Aran Murphy) as he faces an existential crisis before university. She also has jaw arthritis.
Horgan explained that some scenes are inspired by her life and friends, while others are 'lifted literally verbatim from [her] life.' She noted that Patrick is 'a mixture of a few different people who’ve been in my life,' with many scenarios 'lifted, if not verbatim, then pretty, pretty, pretty damn close.'
Body Image Concerns on Screen
Addressing the trend toward thinner bodies in Hollywood, Horgan said, 'There was a short period of time when there was excitement about body positivity and representation of older people on screen and diversity of shapes and sizes. It’s so easy to just slip back, and I think it affects all of us. There’s an awful lot targeted at women because the beauty and ageing industry is such a huge [one]. It’s shoved down our throats.'
She added, 'The skinniest of bodies I’ve ever seen [are] showing up at the moment. I find it really worrying, and I hate that my daughters are seeing it, and for it to be normalised by the media. It’s a worrying trend.'
Regarding cosmetic treatments, Horgan said, 'I didn’t have any decent products until I hit 50. Now I’ll go in and have as many treatments as I need to make myself look like a human woman on TV. In terms of anything drastic, that gives me the heebie-jeebies.'
Fanbase and Future Projects
Horgan acknowledged her loyal fanbase, saying, 'I feel like a very, very lucky girl.' She added, 'Having Youth picked up was one of the rare occasions that I didn’t have to try too hard, but for the most part, everything is a slog. The reason why I keep wanting to make stuff and working hard on it is because there is a really gorgeous female fan base out there. I’m doing it for the women because I’ve had so many gorgeous messages saying that what I write relates to them and their lives, and so you try and keep that up. I’d hate to let them down.'
Despite the success of the Motherland spin-off Amandaland, Horgan ruled out revisiting past universes. 'No,' she said. 'I feel like they happened at that time for that reason, and there’s lots and lots of stories out there that I want to tell.'
