Singer and West End star Beverley Knight has advised HELLO! how turning 50 has made her really feel extra highly effective and assured than ever earlier than.
In an unique interview and photoshoot, Beverley tells how she’s celebrating her milestone birthday by embarking on her “50” UK tour and releasing her first album in seven years, aptly titled The Fifth Chapter.
Beverley Knight and the huge 50
“When women turn 50 it can be a difficult time because society often tells them that they’re done, but my answer to that is that I’m only just beginning,” she says. “I had no fear of reaching 50. I wanted to celebrate the time in life where women really come into their power. And that for me is right now.
“When I was young, 50 seemed old but now it’s not old at all. Kylie isn’t old; JLo isn’t old. We’re in the median of our lives. People used to say that life begins at 40 and that’s when I think the motor takes over, but you really get into sixth gear in your fifties. I feel like I’m at an age now where I’ll say what the hell I want, and that’s liberating.
“I’ve shed the type of neurosis that we now have in our twenties, thirties and generally into our forties. While I all the time had supreme confidence in my skills as a musician, I did not all the time like what I noticed in the mirror. I wasn’t comfy in my very own pores and skin, and I’d discover fault. Now, the faults are nonetheless there however I’m like, no matter.”
Beverley Knight and menopause challenges
However, she finds the menopause “difficult”.
“The warmth, the flushes and the mind fog, which is the worst bit for me. I neglect on a regular basis phrases, which is so irritating. Before I contemplate HRT, I’m working with a useful practitioner, who is serving to me to know what these signs are and checking my bloodwork to see the place I’m poor.”
© HELLO!Beverley Knight’s husband
Beverley, whose recording profession goes again to the Nineties, has appeared on stage in The Bodyguard, Cats, Sister Act and Sylvia, for which she lately gained an Olivier Award. Her new album is a mixture of disco, funk, gospel and ballads and amongst the tracks is one referred to as Not Prepared For You, which reminds her of how she fell for husband James O’Keefe, 47, again in 2007.
“It’s about a relationship where you weren’t ready to meet someone, but they’ve knocked you out, and that is kind of how I see my husband,” she says. “When I met him, I had just come out of a relationship and I was very happily single. I was a woman who had no intention of getting married or having children, but on our first date I knew something deep was happening that I can’t quite put into words. All I can say is that I just knew.”
Beverley Knight’s new studio album The Fifth Chapter is out now. For tickets for the “50” tour go to beverleyknight.com/live-events.
Pick up the newest challenge of HELLO! on sale now. Subscribe to HELLO! to get the journal delivered free to your door each week or buy the digital version on-line by way of our Apple or Google apps.
Discussion about this post