“I said, ‘Bruce, you’ve been writing your entire life. What makes me think that I can start writing when I haven’t done it for all these years?’ And he said, ‘Because creativity is time independent.’” That, Wilson recalls, was a gift that pushed her forward. Since then, she’s written songs about everything from losing her parents—her father in 2009 and her mother in 2014, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease—to her breast cancer diagnosis in 2015. Going through her own health crisis and supporting her mother through hers has impacted her songwriting, the ways she expresses herself and how she lives her life, inspiring changes like cutting back on alcohol and staying up-to-date on the latest dementia research, she says. We caught up with Wilson to discuss being six years cancer free, the steps she takes to boost her brain health and why you’re never too old to try something new. Some of the best artists I know started after 50. Some of the songwriters I love to write with didn’t start until 40. On my 50th birthday, [director] Nora Ephron toasted me and said, “Happy birthday. I want to tell you, great things happen after 50. I didn’t direct my first movie until I was 50.” And what she did in those 21 years from 50 to 71, when she passed away, were some of the most iconic movies. So there’s no timeframe on trying new things. And we shouldn’t limit ourselves by thinking there is. About 14 years ago, I did Chicago the musical on Broadway and that changed my life. It really impressed upon me the importance of music for me. I realized I wanted to focus my energies there. When I started my first album, which was cover songs, it just gave me so much joy and pleasure. And when I started writing with Nashville writers, I felt like I had met my people. Having my first album of original music gave me the courage to keep going. Answer the question “What do I want to do?” Once you do, it’s very hard to go back.You can pretend you didn’t answer it. But it lingers. For me, it was almost undeniable, and I couldn’t not do [music]. When you realize that, everything else has to fall in line and you have to get courageous. The focus now is music-based projects, unless something in acting is so extraordinary that I can’t say no. But I have to be honest, there just aren’t that many great roles for women over the age of 25! You have to really seek them out or create them for yourself. When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, I was in the middle of a play on Broadway. I had my surgery and came back to the show. And it didn’t really hit me until about four months later. When you’re going through something like that, you’re really focused on just getting through it. I experienced a lot of anxiety at that time, because you let it wash over you. I went back into my mindfulness meditation and just tried to stay centered. And then eventually, it just processes out. When you’re going through something like cancer, you have to speak up.And sometimes it’s really hard to speak because you don’t want to confront the feelings that you’re having yourself—and verbalizing them can make them real or scary. But I would encourage people to just talk about it when possible and don’t live with fear or anxiety. Some of my coping mechanisms were watching great movies. I listened to so much good music. My girlfriends were fantastic. My husband was great. My kids [sons Truman, 25, and Chet, 30, and step kids Elizabeth, 39, and Colin, 43, from Hanks’ first marriage] were wonderful. I had so many friends who also had breast cancer, so I leaned on them a lot. I would call them up and say, “This happened to you. How did you handle it emotionally?” I’m not a solitary person. I’m a community person. And now I’m thankful to be a person other people call and say, “Hey, I’m going through this. Should I do XYZ?” And I can pay it forward in a way. Time is a great healer.Each year that goes by and you’re in good health is a really good year. The farther away you get from that date, the more relaxed you become, and you can start feeling like yourself again. After my diagnosis, I started following the Mediterranean diet. It’s just become the lifestyle now. And it’s not hard to do because that’s the stuff that I really like to eat. I eat a lot of blueberries and grains and things like that. And yeah, the reduction in alcohol is kind of a drag. But I will accept it for good health! Now, I read everything there is to read on Alzheimer’s, and I’m always excited when I hear things like, “If you exercise, your chances of Alzheimer’s can decrease by Xpercentage.” Or that eating certain foods and trying new things out, like learning a language or an instrument [can help]. I do try all of those things. I saw [with my mother] what happens, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that it’s at bay or that I lower my risk of getting it. Alzheimer’s is one of the cruelest diseases out there. It’s the worst kind of thief that comes and steals your memory. My mom was 93 when she passed away and she had active Alzheimer’s for about four years. One day, when she was lying in bed, could not move and could not speak, my priest came over. It just so happened that all the family was there, and I said, “I don’t get it. Why is my mom still here? Why doesn’t God take her?” And he said, “Well, she’s still teaching you. Look, you’re all here around her. She’s brought you together. She’s teaching you what family is.” And I really thought that was one of the most beautiful things. It gave me a lot of peace. We were able to get my mom professional caregivers. It was very important to her that she stay in her home. And I know that’s not an option for a lot of people. But I would say if you are a caregiver yourself, and you have siblings or friends who can help, share the responsibilities because one person cannot take on all of that. It’s really hard and it can be so stressful. I realized that a lot of the stress that I had before the pandemic was self-imposed.And it was in the category of being over-scheduled. So when the pandemic hit and we were all locked down for a year, I realized that I enjoyed having a less-filled schedule. One of the things I’m learning to do in order to have a sane mental state, is how to say no to things that sometimes are hard to say no to. We’re a family of storytellers, and we thrive in [hearing] someone else’s story. I hang out with my friends and my family and we laugh—it could be something as basic as going to get a cup of coffee and something happened that day, but there’s always some kind of a laughter. And I seek that out. On my new EP, I have a song called “Boss of Me,” about the idea that as women, at least I feel this way, we were raised to not make waves and to not rock the boat, to look the other way and let it go—it’s not worth the hassle. But something has shifted in me, and I wanted to write about having autonomy and being a person who does have a voice and can say what I want to say. No one is the boss of you. Next, The Cheater’s Guide to Beating Alzheimer’s
