Greta Gerwig says she feels ‘properly middle-aged’ as she prepares to turn 40

Greta Gerwig has reflected on her forthcoming 40th birthday and said she feels “properly middle-aged”.

The Barbie director will celebrate her birthday on 4 August with her partner, Noah Baumbach, and their two children, Harold, four, and a four-month-old baby boy whose name has not been revealed.

In a new interview with ELLE UK, Gerwig said: “I’m about to be 40. And there’s something about that where you’re like, ‘Oh! I’m properly middle-aged now’. All parts of life feel extremely activated.”

The filmmaker said that, although she wore the same boiler suit in different colours while working on the set of Barbie, she wants to “start being more playfully outrageous” with her style as she gets older.

In her cover photoshoot for the special digital cover for ELLE UK, Gerwig said she enjoyed wearing long nails and high heels.

“I don’t want to be 80 and look back and say, I could have really done it, from 40 to 60, but I chose to be practical!” she added. “But we will see how far I get with this.”

The Frances Ha director also shared insight into her current state of mind after welcoming her second child earlier this year.

“The little guy is sleeping through the night,” she said. “But I’m still doing that thing where I wake up, every hour to 90 minutes, and just hover.

“You just keep wanting to look at that baby. So I’m slightly in a twilight state.”

Despite the tiredness that comes with new motherhood, Gerwig described her baby as “a little Schmoo”, adding: “I don’t know if you can tell energy from this picture, but that’s very much his energy. He’s a wise little baby.”

Earlier this month, Gerwig revealed that her elder son takes after her in the theatrical department, as he has “moments of high drama”.

She told the Guardian: “He did this the other day. I wasn’t able to make him breakfast instantly, because I was feeding my three-month-old and he fell to the floor, weeping, and said, ‘I’m having a sorely trying day. It’s already a problem’.

“I was like, ‘Oh, such drama’. But also, like, ‘Oh, that’s from me’. That’s my level of grandiose. And the part of him that’s more watchful, I think, ‘Oh, that’s Noah, that’s nice’.”

Gerwig and Baumbach first met in 2010, but only began dating after he divorced his then-wife, Jennifer Jason Leigh. They have collaborated on several films, including Frances Ha and now, Barbie.

Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, and more, will be released in cinemas on 21 July. Read The Independent’s five-star review of the film here.