Judith Light Has Really, Really Good Life Advice

Glamour: You've played such extraordinary characters throughout your career, some more dark than others. How do you let that go once you've immersed yourself in that mind-set for so long?

Judith Light: You just stop and let it go. It’s like, "Don’t indulge yourself in this." There’s only been one time when I had difficulty letting something go many, many years ago, but that was because something was happening in my life and it was coloring the situation. But [otherwise] it’s like, Just stop, you’re a character. You don’t need to drag that around in your life.

Please tell me that the character in question was not Angela Bower from Who’s the Boss? [Laughs.]

JL: No, no. [Laughs.] I loved that role. And a lot of people [want the show to come back]. A lot of people do.

She flipped professional and personal norms of being a single mom in the '80s.

JL: No question. That was ABC [who deserves the credit]. I didn’t know what that show could do [at the time]. It isn’t until now that I have these young women come up to me and say, "Angela was my role model. I knew I could do something in the world because Angela was doing something in the world." It’s very powerful for me to see all these young women seeing life in this way. I’m very appreciative.

Is there a role you've yet to play that you’d love to sink your teeth into?

JL: I cannot at this moment think of anything, and I’ll tell you why that is: If I had thought about what my career should be and what I would get, I couldn’t have come up with the things that have been as glorious as the ones I’ve gotten.

Do you get anxious when you take on roles?

JL: Such a good question. Always. I think, Have I done enough work? Is it going to speak to people? Will it work? How will it be? How can I make it better? I want to make sure people are responding to it. And people have really responded to me in a way that I’m so grateful for it and don’t take any of it for granted.

I have a very dear friend by the name of Mary Fisher; you may not have heard of her, but she was the first woman at the Republican National Convention in 1992 to say "I am the face of AIDS." Mary and I have remained friends [since then]. She had gotten AIDS from her husband. He’s passed on, and she’s still alive. I would always ask Mary, "What do you say before you go make a speech? What is your devotion?" And she said, "I always say, 'Let me say this the way they need to hear it.'" That’s my devotion.