Candice Bergen has appeared in numerous films and TV shows, shaping a stellar career for nearly six decades. Despite working in an industry where physical looks have always been the subject of criticism, Bergen does not shy away from delving into conversations about one’s body appearance.
Bergen began her career as a fashion model and appeared on the cover of Vogue before she made her screen debut in the film ‘The Group.’
But she has also done several successful projects on television, including Shirley Schmidt in the drama ‘Boston Legal.’ Meanwhile, Bergen received various nominations throughout the course of her career, including Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Starting Over,’ and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for ‘Gandhi.’
Perhaps Bergen is best known for her role in the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown where she portrayed the titular role. It became one of the most successful TV shows she ever did, giving her five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for the said project.
In 2015, Bergen released a memoir called A Fine Romance, where she talked about her experience doing ‘Murphy Brown’ and how it changed her life for a decade.
“For the ten years I did the show, my life revolved around a darkened soundstage. Despite the fact that Murphy Brown was set at a newsmagazine, it was a struggle to keep up with current events. I’d carry the New York Times Book Review back and forth on the plane between L.A. and New York and never read it. I was out of the loop at dinner parties,” she said.
Candice Bergen (1967), (Hulton Archive/Archive Photos via Getty Images)
Bergen went on to describe how fun it was for her doing Murphy Brown. She said she didn’t want the stop doing what she did in the show.
“Yet I never wanted it to end; doing ‘Murphy Brown’ was insanely fun. When the writing was good, it was a giddy, joyous experience. I was the most comfortable and confident I’d ever been. The part was a godsend—a fantastic role that completely suited me. My friends were all happy for me; it was unusual for a woman my age to get that role and that success,” Bergen said.
Outside of her stellar career as an actress, Bergen is a doting mom to her daughter Chloe Malle. Chloe is her child with her late husband, Louis Malle. She remarried in 2000, tying the knot with Marshall Rose five years after Louis’ death.
In 2020, she marked another milestone in her family life as she became a grandmother to her adorable Arthur Louis Albert.
Bergen said she knows Chloe will be a great mom, adding that she hopes her daughter gets the same amount of joy she felt being a mom to her.
“I know she’ll be a great mom,” Candice told Closer Weekly in an interview where she talked about her daughter Chloe. “All I can wish her is the overwhelming, infinite joy being her mama gave me. She is the love of my life.”
Bergen has always been a loving mom to Chloe – and it became more evident when she released her memoir A Fine Romance.
Candice Bergen (2019), (Bruce Glikas/WireImage via Getty Images)
In the said book, she opened up about her ‘overpowering love’ for Chloe – including seeing the latter blossom into the woman that she is today. In the same book, Bergen opened up about gaining weight, sharing how she felt otherwise positive about it.
“Let me just come right out and say it: I am fat,” she said based in an excerpt published on The New York Post’s Page Six.
“In the past 15 years… I have put on 30 pounds. I live to eat. None of this ‘eat to live’ stuff for me. I am a champion eater. No carb is safe — no fat, either,” she said.
She also shared her experience of seemingly getting judged for eating what she liked at an event. But Bergen had the most epic response to dismiss the judgment she received from the person who gave her a look: she simply didn’t care.
“At a recent dinner party, I shared bread and olive oil, followed by chocolate ice cream with my husband. A woman near me looked at me, appalled, I thought, “I don’t care,” ‘she remarked.
While most people her age try to become more conscious about their diet, she prefers to eat food that makes her happy.
“Dieting is out of my purview,” she said. “I crave cookies… all the things that dilate my pupils,” she said.
Bergen went on to share what her friends have to endure to maintain their diet, admitting it’s something she just couldn’t do.
“They maintain their weight by routinely vomiting after major meals consisting of a slice of steak or a filet of fish,” she said. “I am incapable of this,” she revealed.
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