Trending badgeTrendingPosted 1 hour agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret Down22 Celebrities Who Opened Up About Aging Gracefully"Don't fight it. Embrace it, because it's inevitable." - Taraji P. Hensonby Michele BirdBuzzFeed ContributorFacebookPinterestLink Aging is widely considered a taboo topic in today's society, but who says it has to be? We've all celebrated birthdays, and with every second that passes, that means we're older (and wiser!) than before. Here are the most inspiring quotes from famous women in Hollywood who were proud to speak out about growing old - because let's face it, it'll happen to us all: 1. Meryl Streep Samir Hussein / WireImage / Getty Images "You have to embrace getting older," she said. "Life is precious, and when you've lost a lot of people, you realize each day is a gift." 2. Helen Mirren Karwai Tang / WireImage / Getty Images "People who are retired have had extraordinary, productive, challenging, difficult, professional lives, and they're not finished," she said. "It doesn't suddenly screech to a halt." 3. Jamie Lee Curtis Stuart C. Wilson / Getty Images "This word 'anti-aging' has to be struck," she said. "I am pro-aging. I want to age with intelligence, and grace, and dignity, and verve, and energy." 4. Julianne Moore Andreas Rentz / Getty Images "It seems so silly to talk about it as something negative when it is a privilege to continue to age," she said. 5. Cameron Diaz Matthias Nareyek / Getty Images "I look at aging like this: getting older is a blessing and a privilege," she said. "And if you lay the foundation for a healthy life in your younger years, your older years may very well be some of the best of your life." 6. Reese Witherspoon Todd Owyoung / NBC via Getty Images "It's a liberation in your 40s to feel free of other people's opinions," she said. "I mean, they're always there. They just don't matter as much to you, and it's a great feeling." 7. Anne Hathaway Cindy Ord / Getty Images "The more we live in a culture in which age is accepted as a function of life," she said, "the more opportunity we have to develop as people for the entirety of our lives, and that's a gift." 8. Jane Fonda Dominique Charriau / WireImage / Getty Images "I want young people to stop being afraid of getting older," she said. "What matters isn't age [or] that chronological number. What matters is your health." 9. Tracee Ellis Ross Arturo Holmes / Getty Images "I think it is an honor to age, and so many people shy away from it and don't want to tell their age," she said. "I love getting older. I look at women who are steps ahead of me and see so much beauty and wisdom in them." 10. Angelina Jolie Cindy Ord / Getty Images "I'm looking forward to my 50s," she said. "I feel that I'm gonna hit my stride in my 50s." 11. Sandra Oh Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images "I'm extremely grateful to be in the midlife part of my life - being well into our lives and our careers," she said. "Because you have a certain amount of agency, a certain amount of power, and a certain amount of understanding what the deal is." 12. Halle Berry JB Lacroix / FilmMagic / Getty Images "Aging is a privilege, and we should see it that way," she said. "We should feel that way about getting older. We should feel like the crowned jewels of our society." 13. Brooke Shields Daniel Knighton / Getty Images "I am more youthful now than I was in my youth," she said. 14. Jennifer Lopez Robin L Marshall / Getty Images "People have realized that women just get sexier as they get older," she said. "They get more learned and more rich with character." 15. Taraji P. Henson Kristina Bumphrey / Variety via Getty Images "When it comes to women aging, it's almost like we're sent off to the pasture, and it's not fair to us, because, in my opinion, we get better as we age," she said. "Don't fight it. Embrace it, because it's inevitable." 16. Andie MacDowell JB Lacroix / FilmMagic / Getty Images "If I were coloring my hair, people might perceive me as being younger. I just don't need that; it's not something that I desire," she said. "It's not a perception that would be satisfying for me. I'm comfortable being seen as an aging woman." 17. Melissa McCarthy Charles Sykes / Bravo via Getty Images "There's always going to be people who don't like something you're doing," she said. "As you get older, you can step into that and not be worrying about it." 18. Drew Barrymore Alberto Rodriguez / Variety via Getty Images "I have no issues with aging - this is the happiest I've been in my life," she said. 19. Kate Winslet Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Getty Images "Women get more beautiful as they get older, for sure, because our faces become more of a part of who we are," she said. "Things I find incredibly beautiful are wrinkles around the eyes, the backs of hands, I think those things are very beautiful." 20. Jennifer Garner Monica Schipper / Getty Images "I don't want to be younger. I'm very grateful to be exactly this age," she said. "I'm