Goldie Hawn didn’t quite get it right when she said (in “The First Wives Club”) there are only three ages for women in Hollywood: “babe, district attorney and ‘Driving Miss Daisy.’ ” Hawn was leaving out the mildly depressing mom stage of an actress’ career, the level many of the most beautiful actresses of the 1990s and even early 2000s have reached. Here’s a look at some of the hotties turned big-screen mommies:
Ashley Judd, ‘Divergent’ (2014)
Not only is she the mom of protagonist Tris (Shailene Woodley) but the 45-year-old actress has to wear frumpy gray clothes that signify the goody-two-shoes “Abnegation” faction. On the bright side, at least she doesn’t have to shriek and get stalked by serial killers anymore.
Rachel Weisz, ‘The Lovely Bones’ (2010)
When her daughter (Saoirse Ronan) is abducted and murdered by a local creep, Weisz’s Abigail mopes helplessly. Weisz, 44, doesn’t even get to play the obsessive amateur detective who just can’t let go — that part goes to Mark Wahlberg as her husband.
Diane Lane, ‘Man of Steel’ (2013)
As Clark Kent’s wise, understanding, patient adoptive mother Martha, Lane, 49, has to live in Frump County, Kan., and wear humiliating old-age makeup as the movie goes on.
Julianne Moore, ‘Carrie’ (2013)
You can see why Moore was attracted to the part: In the horror genre this is pretty much the mother of all mother roles. Moore, 53, gets to play Margaret White, the fundamentalist freak who cuts her own umbilical cord with shears when her daughter is born and later drives teen Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz, again) to extremes. But she’s still a supporting figure: The movie isn’t called “Maggie.”
Joely Richardson, ‘Endless Love’ (2014)
The 49-year-old star of “Nip/Tuck” and “The Tudors” plays Anne, the mom of teen lead Jade Butterfield, and finds her own sensuality being jump-started by her daughter’s burgeoning sexuality. Eww, mom, stop reading my diary.
Michelle Pfeiffer, ‘Dark Shadows’ (2012)
Johnny Depp’s strange vampire comedy has lots of great roles for women, but not so much for Pfeiffer, 55, who plays the battle-ax mom of a cynical teen (Chloë Grace Moretz) in a creepy Gothic mansion in the 1970s.
Jennifer Garner, ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ (2012)
Garner, 41, plays a kind of fairy-tale mom who can’t have kids but can place a note in a box in the garden. Out of that grows a fantasy plant-boy who sheds leaves that signal his time is short, which gives Garner lots of opportunities to look teary and distraught.
Robin Wright, ‘Moneyball’ (2011)
Before her career got a boost from “House of Cards,” Wright, 47, was the ex you barely noticed when Brad Pitt went to pick up his charming teen daughter for special shared-custody moments.
Sandra Bullock, ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ (2012)
Yeah, the 49-year-old Oscar winner is still the leading female box-office attraction, but movies like “Gravity” don’t come along very often. Even Sandy B. had to play second fiddle to a precocious little kid dealing with his father’s death on 9/11 by going on a magical scavenger hunt around town.