Considering that I’m a die-hard romantic who regularly recaps rom-coms for this website—and has even been known to want what other people have—it might surprise you to learn that I’m actually a huge proponent of the single life, especially when it’s being lived, gorgeously, by a woman in her 50s with absolutely no time for chumps.
That’s exactly the life that supermodel Linda Evangelista appears to be leading: She spoke on it recently, telling The Sunday Times: “I don’t want to sleep with anybody anymore. I don’t want to hear somebody breathing.”
The full interview notes that Evangelista hasn’t dated since the 2016 CoolSculpt incident that she says left her “unrecognizable,” and personally, I think there’s a lot of power in a 58-year-old woman (especially a mom whose previous marriage ended in divorce) admitting that dating just isn’t her priority while she heals. Women who have experienced trauma and abuse either at work or in their relationships are so rarely given the space and tools they need to recover, and I, for one, am glad to hear Evangelista is just doing her at the moment.
The specific sentiment that Evangelista espoused definitely belongs in the Whoopi Goldberg “I don’t want somebody in my house” hall of fame, but there’s grace in it, too; after all, as women we’re so often pressured to find a man that it can be difficult to stop and consider whether we actually want one. Before entering my current relationship, I spent the preceding decade mostly single but trying desperately not to be—and I can attest that I didn’t find peace (or, incidentally, meet my partner) until I was able to treasure the little things that can so often characterize non-partnered life: being able to cook whatever you want for dinner, always having control of the TV remote, and, yes, blessed silence when you’re trying to fall asleep.
I’m not trying to knock coupledom (and, for the record, it should be said that I’m the eardrum-shattering snorer in my relationship, not my partner), but I think there’s a thread of genuine liberation tied up in Evangelista’s statement that she doesn’t “want to hear somebody breathing.” I truly believe that being on your own can be as powerful and as meaningful as being with someone, and it’s a stage that everyone (especially serial daters like the one I used to be) should go through at some point or other. It’s giving Agnès Varda protagonist! It’s giving Cameron Diaz dancing alone to “Mr. Brightside” in The Holiday! It’s giving role model!