Last week, on her birthday, we officially welcomed Princess Kate to her second act, thanks to scientists pinpointing her age, 44, as the start of midlife.
And it’s true that the Princess of Wales certainly ticks a lot of classic “second act” boxes. Her three children are no longer tiny, she’s faced major adversity and has come out of it feeling grateful and reinvigorated, and — perhaps the biggest indicator of all that she’s embracing that classic second act energy — she’s changed her hair. Because every woman knows that a subtle colour change here or some impromptu curtain bangs there can only mean one thing in midlife: the 2.0 version of you is ready for launch, and you want everyone to know it.
So, we’re calling it: the princess is in her second act, and we can’t wait to see how it unfolds. However, when we polled you, our Second Act community, on when you felt like you hit this milestone, the results showed that not everyone feels like their mid-forties herald the start of midlife after all.
In fact, a whopping 51% of the Second Act audience said that, for them, that midlife feeling kicked in at around the age of 50. Meanwhile, 28% were more in sync with the science and said that 40-45 was the period that felt like the start of middle age for them.
But what actually signifies the onset of a “second act”, or midlife, for most women? On a physical level for many, it might be those telltale early perimenopause symptoms — which start, on average, in a woman’s mid-forties, but can commonly creep in during the late thirties for some women and closer to 50 for others.
When it comes to life stages, though, things are even more varied. In the UK, the age of 42 is cited by legal experts as the average age when women divorce (from a first marriage) which, as many of our Second Act podcast guests will confirm, felt like launching a new phase of life with a bang.
A woman’s forties are often a time for career change too. While this can often be because, for those who’ve followed a traditional trajectory, this era can coincide with children getting a little older and less dependent, it’s sometimes the case for those who’ve done things a different way too. Increased financial stability, changes in energy levels (potentially in both directions!) and the desire to leave the city for the country (or vice versa) can all be major milestones too that create an opportunity for major transition and ultimately feel like they divide life in two.
When we look at women closer to 50 and beyond, there are many becoming empty nesters. And this can also be a pivotal — and sometimes unsettling — moment too, with many of us pondering our purpose in life now that we’re less “needed” — physically, if not financially! — than we might have felt for decades.
Of course, some stories are more personal, with many women citing a life changing diagnosis, a fitness epiphany, an unexpected loss or a spiritual awakening as the moment they realised they were in a new life stage.
We also need to celebrate the 19% of our audience who said that, when it comes to second acts, they’re “not there yet”. Whether they’re 25 or 55, we hope that they’re inspired by what they see from the array of dazzling midlife women we celebrate every day in the Second Act community — and who we know will welcome them with open arms whenever they’re ready.