As she is due to celebrate her 92nd birthday ahead of Christmas, the '80 for Brady' actress plans to continue working until it becomes physically impossible for her to do so.
- Dec 5, 2023
AceShowbiz - Rita Moreno doesn't want to retire as she prepares to celebrate her 92nd birthday. The "King and I" star's Hollywood career spans eight decades and she has vowed to continue working until it's physically impossible.
"You know, I love what I do. Why on earth would I want to leave what I love? So that's what I plan to do. Unless I can't or until I can't," she told Entertainment Tonight ahead of her birthday on December 11.
The "Family Switch" star teased she has a handful of projects in the pipeline. She said, "I have a couple. I can't talk about it yet, okay?"
And the "West Side Story" star hopes 2024 will bring her even more work to look forward to. She said of her hopes for the year ahead, "More of the same. I love what I do ... Like I said, I love actors. And if I talk about it long enough, you'll see me get teary-eyed. I'm just very great. I really am wonderful. I've had quite a life."
Rita recently revealed she has been making friends in the supermarket after years of loneliness. The "80 for Brady" star realised she felt lonely after moving to a new apartment, so decided to take matters into her own hands and make connections with the people she met while running errands.
She told People magazine, "My daughter [jewellery designer Fernanda Luisa Gordon] noticed and she said, 'What's wrong?' I said I didn't know. I didn't know what was wrong. I really didn't understand what was happening."
"I remember thinking, 'I can't go on like this.' I'm in the most beautiful apartment in the world as far as I'm concerned, and this is happening. Why is this happening? I took all my experience in therapy, psychotherapy, and just kind of punched it together and said, 'What's wrong? Something's wrong, and it has to do with you since you moved."
Rita eventually realised she was "really lonely" because none of her friends or family were nearby anymore, but it also occurred to her that she didn't know how to make friends. She said, "It's the most fascinating thing to learn about yourself. I've never had to seek people's company. You know why? Because people have always come to me."
Not wanting to stay unhappy, Rita decided to do something about the "ridiculous" situation, and quickly made a new friend. She said, "One day I thought, 'This is ridiculous. I have to meet some people.' That particular day when I made that decision, I went to the supermarket to do some shopping, and I ran into a lady who I kept running into, who's lovely."
"She had this big smile on her face, and she recognised me, obviously, and we started to talk. I said to her, 'Would you like to have lunch with me?' She said, 'Lunch with you? Really?' I said, 'Yeah.' She said, 'Yeah.' We went and had lunch."
"She sat down and she said, 'Do you always pick people up like this in the market?' I told her the truth. I said, 'No, but you always have struck me as such a lovely person. Since I'm new here and I don't know anybody, I thought I'd take a dip.' She's lovely."
And Rita went on to make many other friends in her new neighbourhood. She said, "I also met people from the apartment, the building, who are marvellous. I'm so lucky."
