*Angela Bassett says “You look good for your age,” is not a compliment, noting that “When we take care of ourselves, we do look good for our age, whatever age that is, you know?” said the 63-year-old actress in a new interview with InStyle.
Bassett believes the phrase is overused. As reported by MSN, in a 2018 with Allure, she recalled the time a woman bagging her groceries said, “You look so young.” Bassett jokingly responded,”‘Hearing that is a wonderful thing—seeing as I’m 80!’”
Bassett has always been super aware of her image in Hollywood, especially after playing legendary characters such as Rosa Parks, Betty Shabazz, Tina Turner, and Ramonda in “Black Panther.”
READ MORE: Angela Bassett Talks Being ‘Paid Fairly’ in Hollywood
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“Thirty and 40 years ago when I started out, Black characters were weighted too heavily in the negative. I was always mindful of those images,” she told InStyle magazine. “There’s complexity to us. There’s beauty to us. There’s strength to us. There’s compassion to us. There are so many wonderful things.”
In the same interview, Bassett, one of the highest-earning actresses in television, spoke about being paid fairly in the industry.
“Now, it’s good to be paid. That is one thing that I’ve said to myself since early on in my career. I mean, I literally would say, ‘I want to work in roles that can change me and change the conversation. I want to work consistently. And I want to be paid fairly,’” she explained.
We reported earlier that Bassett and her co-stars on Fox’s hit drama “9-1-1” secured pay increases ahead of Season 5, with the actress reportedly making “north of $450,000 an episode,” Deadline reports.
“It’s about knowing your worth and standing on it. Being in positions and places where your worth is appreciated is a good thing. I’m glad that it can influence others,” she said.
Per Deadline, Bassett’s “911” salary “is believed to be among the top salaries on network television for any actor — male or female — and could be the highest ever for an actress of color on a broadcast drama series,” the outlet writes.
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