Liv Tyler, 38, Says Age Makes Her ‘Second Class Citizen’ in Hollywood

Age is just a number, unless you happen to be a bottle of fine wine or a Hollywood actress. Leftovers star Liv Tyler is the latest to claim the industry values one over the other.

When speaking to More magazine this month, Tyler did not hold back while discussing the lack of interesting roles she says are available for women as they age, saying older actresses are treated as “a sort of second class citizen.”

“38 is a crazy number. It’s not fun when you see things start to change,” she told the mag. “When you’re in your teens and twenties, there is an abundance of ingénue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age] you’re usually the wife or the girlfriend, a sort of second class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older,” she added.

Tyler joins the growing list of A-list actresses who have highlighted the entertainment industry’s one-sided hiring practices this year. Other stars who have recently joined the ageism and sexism conversation in Hollywood include Anne Hathaway, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Emma Thompson.

“I don’t think there’s any appreciable improvement and I think that for women, the question of how they are supposed to look is worse than it was even when I was young,” Thompson, 77, said in July.

NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group Chairman Bonnie Hammer, 65, also penned an op-ed this summer, in which she describes the pressures she believes are placed on women as they age.

“While leading men have been celebrated for their timeless charm and weathered good looks, women my age have been barely visible on screen – or try to remain visible by remodeling what age has created,” said Hammer, via Deadline. “Bowing to societal pressures, they’ve lifted brows, tightened skin, filled laugh lines, and realigned proportions, all to stretch careers that would have otherwise been jeopardized by simply looking one’s age.”