All apologies, Helen Mirren, but what?!
The highly-celebrated actor was waxing poetic about the fleetingness of life in an interview with the Evening Standard’s Brave New World published Thursday when she decided to make a very strange point involving the late Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain.
Cobain died at the peak of his fame in 1994 by suicide. He was 27.
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“I always say, it’s so sad that Kurt Cobain died when he did, because he never got to see GPS,” she told the British newspaper. “It’s the most wonderful thing, my little blue spot walking down the street. I just find it completely magical and unbelievable.”
When this quote made its way onto X, formerly Twitter, Friday, people found her remark so random they couldn’t help but tease her a bit.
Such a tragedy that Notorious B.I.G. never got to enjoy the benefits of contactless payment.
— Edward Jenkins (@edjenx) October 24, 2024i wish beethoven was alive so he could see what its like to throw a car battery in the ocean
— Dij 🫵👹 (@NeTwArT) October 24, 2024It's a terrible shame Mozart died before he could experience the wonders of MP3s.
— Tom in Hawaii (@TomTayon) October 24, 2024I’m just sad John Belushi never got to play Super Mario Bros.
— Jack Downing (@ImSpartacus18) October 24, 2024I always say, its so sad that Jimi Hendrix died when he did, becauae he never saw Next Day Amazon Prime Shipping
— Kristina (@Cheetara1986) October 25, 2024Every day I think about how much Tupac would have enjoyed the little miracle of Duolingo.
Just a little owl, teaching you words every day.
If only Mark Twain could be alive to read on a Kindle.
— Ken Cook (@KenCook_KC) October 24, 2024Although the quote alone comes off as slightly bizarre, the 79-year-old Oscar winner did seem to be making a larger point about watching the world change around you as you get older.
She told the Standard that she feels that aging is a “great good fortune” because “you lose people along the way.”
“If you’re lucky, you get to be older,” she told the Standard about 13 minutes into its accompanying podcast interview. “And then there you are. Oh my God, I’m 79! I never thought I’d be 79. And then you say, ‘OK, well this is it.’ This is what 79 is. And it’s kind of OK. It’s not brilliant, but it was not that brilliant to be 25 either.”
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It also seems like Mirren has frequently used Cobain as a reference point for the passage of time.
In 2014, she told Oprah Winfrey, “Look at Kurt Cobain — he hardly even saw a computer! The digital stuff that’s going on is so exciting. I’m just so curious about what happens next.”
She also told Cosmopolitan in 2015, “I was thinking about Kurt Cobain the other day and he died without knowing the internet, and I’m totally blown away by that.”
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