Sitting on the roof terrace of the nonprofit arts center that houses her bookstore in Key West, Fla., Judy Blume soaks up the sun. In the middle of the press gathering after the screening of the first film adaptation of her cult novel from 1970. Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret, she radiates joy. The film, which stars Rachael McAdams, Abby Ryder Fortson and Kathy Bates, is released on April 28. Watching it being filmed, says Blume, was “the experience of a lifetime!”
What a life it was – and she wasn’t done yet.
Blume has written 29 books for children and adults (with 90 million copies sold), won a slew of awards in her field (including being named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress), and traveled the world meeting readers and fans. She has come a long way from being a New Jersey girl who talked to God, seeking protection for her beloved father while they were apart. At 85, she’s happier than ever, blissfully married to her “wonderful” third husband, George Cooper, also 85, enjoying the life of a bookseller (the couple has owned Books & Books in Key West since 2016) and continuing to speak about children’s rights to read what they want. With release Margaret movie as well Judy Blume Forever, documentary about her, Blume could be excused for resting on her laurels. But she’s not done yet.
“I don’t know what 85 means,” Blume says. “But I feel like there’s so much more I want to do. I love doing this.”
Judy Blume diagnosed with breast cancer
Born in 1938 and raised in suburban Elizabeth, New Jersey, Blume began writing as a young housewife when her two young children (daughter Randy born in 1961, son Lawrence in 1963) were small. She was then married to her first husband, John Blume, a lawyer she met while in college. “I’m an intuitive writer,” she says, looking back. – I don’t analyze much and the story just comes.
Once the stories started coming in, they didn’t stop. After Margaret came Deenie, Blubber and Forever, among others, which dealt with then taboo topics such as menstruation and masturbation. Blume became a public figure, appearing on television to talk about writing for children and sometimes to defend her work against the criticism it attracted.
“A book cannot harm a child,” Blume says in a film clip from the documentary, and as an active member of the National Coalition Against Censorship, the author continues to advocate for freedom of reading.
Amazon Prime Video /Courtesy of Everett
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At the same time, she was managing her own life changes. Her marriage to John ended (Blume calls it “a long, perfectly sane first marriage of 16 years”) and she soon embarked on a disastrous second marriage (which she remembers as “jumping into the frying pan – a bit of a disaster for me”). Around the time of her second divorce, Blume began writing books for adults—the first, A womanit came out in 1978.
In 1979, she met Cooper, then a law professor. “He moved in on our second date,” says Blume, and they’ve been together ever since. “We’ve been through a lot together and he’s wonderful,” she adds. “I mean, we’re so different. We’re so alike, but then we’re so different. He’s laid back. He’s got no anxiety. And he makes me feel so safe in my world, just when I’m with him.”
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Judy Blume and her husband George Cooper. Courtesy of Judy Blume
So how does Judy Blume explain her joy — and enduring beauty — at age 85? “Isn’t it lucky, really?” she asked. – It’s luck, and maybe genes.
Part of her legendary energy goes back to her own father, who died in 1959. “I always thought I’d die very young because of my father’s family. Nobody lived to be 60,” she says. It had an impact on her own life, Blume thinks, prompting her to “Hurry, hurry, hurry. Another book, another book, another book. Hurry, hurry, hurry. And [then you] turn around and suddenly you’re 85.”
Above all, she says, “Keep moving. Keep dancing! Keep doing whatever you can.”
Judy Blume forever will begin airing on Prime Video on April 21.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education