The Tony Award winner — who has two granddaughters, Adah and Ilse — became a grandmother for the first time in her 50s
Jessica Lange is reflecting on the joys of being a young grandmother.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the Tony Award-winning actress — who currently stars on Broadway in Mother Play — A Play in Five Evictions — opened up about what it was like becoming a grandma for the first time in her 50s.
The Feud star, 75, is mother to three children, Shura, Hannah and Walker. Her granddaughters, Adah and Ilse Bryan, are now college-aged. Lange says that when her daughter Shura made her a grandma at such a young age, she felt as though she was experiencing being a mother all over again.
“What was nice about having grandchildren so early, because I was only in my early 50s when my first granddaughter was born, you really grow up with them,” Lange says.
“It’s like having a second crop of children,” she continues. “We spent a great deal of time together. We traveled together. We had all sorts of adventures together. So I treasured that.”
Lange also says she feels “blessed and “very, very fortunate.”
Along with being a grandmother, being a parent changed Lange in terms of prioritizing others over herself. She tells PEOPLE she had “always been extremely willful,” though she notes it’s not something she’s proud of as she reflects on becoming a mother in 1981.
“With children, it might be the first time in your life you put someone else first,” she explains. “And that was a huge shift and a huge lesson in life.”
Shura, 43, Hannah, 38, and Walker, 36, all went on to pursue careers in the arts, like their famous mother. “I love the fact that they’ve found their own way, and found their own passion,” Lange says.
The American Horror Story actress is navigating relationships with younger family members both off the stage — and on. In Mother Play, she portrays the harsh matriarch Phyllis to Carl (Jim Parsons) and Martha (Celia Keenan-Bolger).
She added, “From the very beginning, we found this language and this connection, and it makes a huge difference if you are looking forward to going onstage with these actors.”
