The mention of Susan Sarandon frequently makes us feel warm and fuzzy.
The renowned actress has enthralled audiences all across the world throughout her extraordinary half-century-long career.
But Sarandon is more than just her talent at playing a variety of characters, from Louise in the groundbreaking movie Thelma and Louise to Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking.
Sarandon is also well recognized for constantly advocating on behalf of endometriosis sufferers, a condition she herself battled for a very long period and which adversely affected her ability to conceive.
She is the most devoted of all, though, possibly more so in her own private life as a mother.
Sarandon didn’t become a mother until she was 39 years old, in part because of a health condition, but she subsequently went on to have two more kids. The actress has long been notable for her choice to continue trying to conceive despite her advanced age. She did indeed make headlines with each new child born as a result of her “unusual” decision to start her “mommy career” “so late” in life.
Chris Sarandon became her stage name after adopting her first husband’s name after being born Susan Abigail Tomalin in 1946. Even though she is 75 years old, she has spent a significant portion of her life pursuing her career as an actor. She is also well-known for her activism on behalf of worthy causes.
As the lead character in the dramatic full-length movie Joe from 1970, Sarandon launched her film career. After that, she experimented with soap opera roles, notably as Patrice Kahlman in A World Apart. She rose to popularity five years later, in 1975, when she was just 29 years old, thanks to her role in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
She received an Oscar nomination for Atlantic City in 1980, and less than ten years later, in 1984, she had played more than 25 parts on both the big and small screens.
While her career was flourishing, her personal life was more challenging. When she was dating the Italian director Franco Amurri, she realized that having a child wouldn’t be as easy as she had anticipated.
She had endometriosis, which was one of the causes. She was unable to start her own family earlier in life due to the sickness among other factors.
Sarandon had been exhibiting a number of medical symptoms, but it took until she was in her forties before physicians could definitively diagnose her. During each menstrual cycle, the benign condition causes the uterus’ interior tissue to peel off, causing bleeding and invasion of other organs such the rectum, bladder, or ovaries.
The devastating diagnosis revealed that Sarandon might have a harder time getting pregnant and, to make matters worse, it raised her risk for catastrophic pregnancy issues. The disease not only caused pain in various body areas. High risk is associated with pregnant women who have the disease.
Despite all this, Sarandon became pregnant at the mature age of 39. “Don’t have the baby,” and “It will ruin your career,” many around her said.
However, Sarandon disregarded that counsel and rejoiced in the enormous blessing of her pregnancy, giving birth to Eva Amurri, her first child, shortly after.
Since then, Eva has continued on her mother’s career as an actress and content developer. In 1988, after her marriage to Amurri came to an end, she began dating Tim Robbins, an actor who was 12 years her junior.
Bull Durham had brought the two together, and it was with Robbins that Sarandon would have her next two children, John “Jack” Henry (born in 1989) and Miles Robbins (born in 1992).
“I had my first baby at 39 and my third at 45, and with each child, [people were] like, ’Are you crazy? Don’t!’” Sarandon revealed in an interview.
Through numerous interviews on the subject, Sarandon has made it abundantly obvious that she had to overcome a wide range of physical challenges in order to conceive and carry her children to term in each of her cases.
She said that she didn’t want her illness—no matter how crippling—to make her doubt her ability to be a mother.
“It’s not okay to miss out on a part of life because of pain and excessive bleeding,” she said in 2011 at an Endometriosis Foundation of America event.
She has worked hard to dispel any stigma or worries associated with the condition and served as a spokesperson for those ladies going through a similar ordeal. Her intention is to encourage women to express their pain openly and to refuse to accept it as normal.
To live a life with fewer limitations, women should not be reluctant to get a diagnosis and treatment as soon as feasible.
With three children of her own—a daughter, Marlowe, born in 2014, and sons, Major James and Mateo, born in 2016 and 2020, respectively—Eva, Sarandon’s oldest daughter, is now a mother as well.
On occasion, Sarandon and her daughter Amurri post gorgeous photos of their lovely family on their social media pages. In addition to being a devoted mother, Sarandon is now an engaged and content grandma of three!
Even Sarandon’s mother is a part of their extended family; the chuffed great-grandmother is shown here with them all as they celebrate her 94th birthday.
It goes without saying that despite the challenges Sarandon encountered, she courageously followed her heart and discovered within it the fortitude to overcome her physical challenges.
Although Sarandon clearly exudes strength and confidence, some people have questioned the actress for her choice of clothing.
The actress was widely chastised by Piers Morgan for her outfit on Twitter in 2016; he specifically took issue with her white suit jacket, which could be undone to show cleavage and a black bra.
“Would Susan Sarandon wear this to a funeral? No. It was thus horribly inappropriate for an In Memoriam tribute,” Morgan tweeted.
In another tweet, he added, “To clarify, I’ve no problem with Susan Sarandon flashing her breasts. Just tacky to do it when fronting ‘In Memoriam’ at awards show.”
Some trolls seemed to agree with Morgan, and one person called Sarandon “unattractive”. Another one dubbed her a “wretched, old, dried up, nasty nobody.”
In a 2019 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Sarandon expressed her outlook on fashion.
”While I may not be fully versed in every aspect of fashion, I am aware of what personally appeals to me and what captures my interest, which I choose to embrace. I don’t feel the need to constantly conform to popular trends,” she expressed.
In the end, Sarandon seems to be comfortable with her physique regardless of her age and has gained a stronger sense of “appreciation” as she approaches her seventies.
She promotes body positivity and self-acceptance as essential elements of general well-being and is an advocate for a mindset that celebrates and respects oneself.
“When your sense of time has an ending and isn’t finite, like how it feels when you’re young – when you have an understanding that time is precious – you have a tendency not to waste energy on the small stuff and only to surround yourself with people who are vital, curious, brave and adventurous,” she says.
If you agree that Sarandon is an incredible female force to be reckoned with, tell her tale to all the other strong women in your own life.
