Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) offered advice for life to women, saying she believes personal philosophy, friendships and passions are the keys to happiness.

In a new interview with US Airways Magazine, Mulgrew spoke from her apartment in New York about turning 50 and the changes in her life over the past few years, which have included the deaths of her parents, the maturity of her children and working in a profession that often requires her to be away from her husband. Kate's mother, who died of Alzheimer's, "fully expected me to be able to fly through life", explained Mulgrew, who is finding it difficult not to have that support any longer:

It seems to me that from a very young age I wanted to please my mother in a grown-up way. Oh, I was certainly naughty and irreverent and all the rest of it...but my longing to please my mother was unusual, I think. When she would have a dinner party, which she did often and well, she would ask me to read a poem or recite something or show everyone how I imitated this or that person.

At 21, Mulgrew told a reporter that she expected to be a great actress in ten years. More recently, she said, "When we’re young, we hurtle ourselves through life in a kind of capsule of confidence." She was on the verge of having to sell her Los Angeles home when she was cast on Star Trek: Voyager, which made her a household name, though she had difficulty balancing the long workdays with her family.

"I think the great mistake women — and I would qualify this by saying especially career women — make is that they don’t develop what they need early in life to support them when they reach this point," Mulgrew said of her current position. "The next 30 years must be spent as an entirely different person."

As for what's important in life, Mulgrew added, "If you have only one friendship, it's sufficient so long as it’s real",” and stressed finding interests that are tied neither to career nor to family, preferably creative ones. For the actress, those are cooking, reading and writing.

The full interview is in US Airways Magazine. Thanks to Totally Kate! for the link.

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