’80s star Ellen Barkin, 72, stuns in rare red-carpet appearance

LEAVE A COMMENT '80s star Ellen Barkin looked incredible as she stepped out for the National Alliance on Mental Illness' "This Is Crazy" Benefit Performance on Tuesday, sporting a white-blonde bob that complemented her delicate features.

The 72-year-old arrived in a coordinated black set with a loose, striped top and matching bottoms.

She paired the look with pointed black shoes, stacked silver necklaces and gold hoop earrings, and her hair fell to just below her ears.

Ellen has always sported bright blonde locks with varying hairstyles, like in her projects Before Women Had Wings, This Boy's Life, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Fan and Sea of Love.

She will appear in the upcoming film White Lies alongside Michael Douglas, Josh Hartnett, Willem Dafoe and Homer Gere.

The synopsis reads: "White Lies follows Jack Freeman (Hartnett), a child of divorce who is repeating his parents' mistakes in his own marriage and with his own children. He embarks on a lust-filled journey to escape, only to find himself more lost than before. Things change when he meets a woman whose life is the opposite of his own."

Ellen has been a staple in Hollywood for decades, and was subjected to the darker side of the industry on more than one occasion. "When I first started to make films, my looks took up a large portion of my interviews, negatively. So I was just ripped apart physically in interviews," she told HuffPost.

"It was like, 'She looks like she just did eight rounds with Muhammad Ali. Who punched her in her eyes? Why are they so small? Who knocked her mouth out of joint?'"

"Then all of a sudden, I wasn't the overlooked girlfriend or the wife no one wanted," Ellen continued. "I was the object of desire. And once that happened, then all the good parts went out the window."

The star explained that she was typecast "first as the ugly girlfriend… then I went right into the voracious sex symbol, and then I went to mean old lady."

"This is what [the industry's] like," she added. "And I had an easy time with it, believe me." Despite her experiences in Hollywood, Ellen told the outlet that she enjoyed her work as an actor and hoped to do it for a long time coming.

"I like the craft. I also like the people. I like meeting a whole new group of people, making friends. And I just like that part of it," she said. "I could deal without all those men."

Ellen has been married twice: the first time was to actor Gabriel Byrne in 1988, with whom she welcomed kids Jack and Romy before separating in 1993. Her second marriage was to billionaire Ronald Perelman, whom she wed in 2000 and split from six years later.

"Any time I cook a holiday meal, Gabriel comes here, and Christmas is usually his holiday, so then I go there," Ellen told The New York Times of their close bond. "I know I've said this before, but I don't think a marriage has to last forever to be successful, and I think we had a good marriage and we managed to keep what was good about it alive for 25 years."

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