Why Jamie Lee Curtis' Iconic Mom Would Have Been 'Upset' With Her

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Why Jamie Lee Curtis' Iconic Mom Would Have Been 'Upset' With Her originally appeared on Parade.

Jamie Lee Curtis revealed why her iconic mom, Janet Leigh, would not have been happy with her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

"My mother's been gone a long time. And today I have a freedom to be myself that my mother's generation would never have allowed," Curtis, 66, said while speaking to People about Leigh, who died at the age of 77 in 2004 following a successful acting career. "My mother would've been incredibly upset at EverythingEverywhere All at Once and how I looked."

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After noting that Leigh would have "loathed" Curtis' unkempt and aged appearance in the movie, she explained that her mother's "generation was so much about your body and what you look like."

"And the beauty. The beauty is just who she was. That's what her life was. My mother was literally jaw dropping," she continued. "But I think that would've been very hard for her to see me with my tummy sticking out. Or in [the film] Last Showgirl, for her to see me in that dressing room at 66 years old. That really would've upset her. I know her very well. I have accepted myself in a much bigger way than I think she felt she was allowed to, through her generation."

Curtis won best supporting actress at the 2023 Oscars for her role in Everywhere All at Once, in which she starred as an office worker who didn't put much effort into her appearance.

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Leigh shared Curtis with fellow screen icon Tony Curtis, whom she was married to from 1951 until 1962.

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Also during the interview, Curtis admitted she previously "tried to do everything not to be [her] mother."

"And, of course, I'm very much like my mother in many, many, ways. My admiration for her has swelled as my disappointments have lessened," she said. "I know that my mother was so proud of me and and what I've achieved, that she respected my husband's work and was thrilled to be a grandma."

Why Jamie Lee Curtis' Iconic Mom Would Have Been 'Upset' With Her first appeared on Parade on Jul 27, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 27, 2025, where it first appeared.