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May We All Be as Truly Contented as Shirley MacLaine One Day

Photo: Vera Anderson/WireImage

Shirley MacLaine, one of the few great comedic actresses who was not nominated for an Emmy this year, is instead cooling her heels in the American Southwest and working as little as possible.

I adore Shirley’s contentedness, am all about it. The 85-year-old Oscar-winning actress, star of great films like Steel Magnolias, The Apartment, and Postcards From the Edge, told People on Wednesday, “Not that much bothers me … I think attitudes are a choice. Anger is a choice, peace is a choice, sarcasm — which is what I’m good at — is a choice.”

The actress explains that her newfound choice to be chill, rather than what she is good at, is a condition of a life spent doing as she pleases. “I have what I consider just a perfect life,” she explained. “I eat what I want, I sleep when I want.” Her enduring belief in past lives and space aliens (she muttered something about it not being okay to speak publicly on “extraterrestrials” in a recent New York Times profile) can’t hurt either.

Though MacLaine assures people she’s keeping busy, she reportedly spends a good deal of time at her ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. “I have someone who comes in a couple of times a week, but otherwise I’m totally alone,” MacLaine said. “I sometimes go to Santa Fe, which is one of the artistic and restaurant and new age capitals in the country.”

“I have all the animals around me. It’s everything I need to be happy,” MacLaine added. I’ve known peace of mind like this too, but only when I’m blogging about park gators and violent birds.

Good News: Shirley MacLaine’s Life Is Now Perfect