Exclusive: Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh on embracing her ‘f*** it 50s’

Adjoa Andoh isn’t ashamed to be in her ‘Second Act’ and speaking to Ateh Jewel on HELLO!’s podcast, Second Act, the star explained why her last decade was her most important.

When asked what the phrase second act means to her, Adjoa, 62, known for her role as Lady Danbury on Bridgerton, explained: “F*** it 50s. It’s glorious. And I’m afraid that is the phrase. Forgive me for swearing, but it’s a swearing of joy and abandonment, where you just go, it’s okay.

“You don’t want to go to that thing. It’s okay. F*** it. You fancy, I don’t know, skydiving. F*** it. Go do it. Just abandon yourself to the wonder of the world and give time to reflect on who you are, what you like, where you like to be. Do you like to go walking? Do you like to lie down a lot? Do you want to go and listen to that band no one else wants to go to? Go on your own. It’s fine.”

Menopause

Elsewhere in the podcast, Adjoa addressed going through menopause and she urged the world to catch up and adapt in order “to accommodate all the human beings in it”.

“Hormones are powerful. We know that,” she explained. “They affect you physically, spiritually, emotionally and women are juggling through all of that while also keeping everything else going. And it’s really complicated; it’s a bit like getting a diagnosis of ADHD or whatever. It’s just information.

“If you understand why you want to roll everyone into the wall on a certain day, because it’s a hormonal thing and it’s not because you’re a psychotic human being, it’s just your body, then it’s information. You can learn to cope with that and we should be, of course, adapting the world to accommodate all the human beings in it.”

© Suki Dhanda

She concluded: “So with crash test dummies that are male shaped, when women have car crashes, they are more likely to get injured than men. With the workplace, with menopause, and so with life in general, there’s work to do.”

Listen to Adjoa talking to Ateh Jewel on the Second Act podcast, sponsored by Absolute Collagen and available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon and wherever you get your podcasts.