Jamie Lee Curtis talks about the wonder and pride she felt when her child came out as transgender

Jamie Lee Curtis describes herself as a person who is in a constant process of letting go — shedding old ideas, things, and habits that don’t serve her anymore. The process, she shares, is how she survived an addiction to opiates. It’s also how she let go of old, outdated ideas about gender and sexuality… with some help from her youngest child, Ruby.

Ruby is Curtis's 25-year-old daughter with her writer/director husband Christopher Guest and has come out as transgender. She and Guest, she told AARP magazine in a recent interview, “have watched in wonder and pride as our son became our daughter Ruby.”

Thanks to Ruby, says Curtis, she’s realized that life is a “constant metamorphosis.” Instead of staying stuck in one place, Curtis operates on the basis of, “Let’s get rid of that, I don’t need that. It’s all about old ideas that don’t work anymore,” she said.

Her empathy for children — both her own and others — comes from a tumultuous childhood. "There is nothing harder than being a child,” she told the magazine. “and I am a product of a lot of divorces. Janet [Leigh] married four times, Bob [Brandt] four, and Tony [Curtis] six. It is what it is, but I think, as a result, I have always had a feeling for vulnerable children.”

Curtis also shared the news that Ruby and her fiancé will be married in 2022. The iconic actor will act as the wedding’s officiant. 25-year-old Ruby works in computer gaming. Her older sister, Annie, is a dance instructor. (Creativity, obviously, is in the family genes — Curtis’ own mother was actress Janet Leigh and her father was Tony Curtis). She told the magazine that with both her children soon to be married, she’s hoping to become a grandparent one day.

Curtis, who believes that social media is “poison for young people” isn’t about to get rid of one platform, however: she’s a serious fan of YouTube. The actor, producer and podcast host admitted that she’s very into a specific type of video: surprise flashmob wedding proposals. She watches them nearly every night before bed.

"It just delights me,” she confessed. “I've watched lots of them. Hundreds! That first moment of pledging yourselves to each other, that hope and thrill, is really the start of the marriage. There's just something magical there,” she explains, “between the reality of it and the beautiful unknown of it. That's marriage. And that's life."

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