As the face of Eli Lilly’s Brain Health Matters campaign, she is on a mission to encourage people to make brain health a regular part of their overall wellness plan.
INDIANAPOLIS — November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 7 million Americans currently live with some form of the disease.
Actress Julianne Moore gained a deeper understanding of the impact of Alzheimer’s disease while preparing for her role in 2014 film “Still Alice,” which she won dozens of awards for, including a Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award.
“‘Still Alice’ is a story about a woman who is 50 years old. She’s thriving in her career and her family life, and she is diagnosed with early onset dementia,” Moore said. “It’s really about her journey through the disease — emotionally, physically, intellectually. It’s a pretty devastating story.”
Moore is partnering with Eli Lilly and Company for its “Brain Health Matters” campaign.
“It really is to encourage people to talk to their doctors about their risks for Alzheimer’s disease and to get a cognitive assessment because I don’t think we prioritize brain health enough, and so this is a way to encourage people to be much more proactive about it,” Moore said. “I think it really was the movie actually that started it all for me, and I think it was something that Lilly paid attention to as well because it spoke so directly and personally about this disease to so many people.”
According to statistics on Lilly’s Brain Health Matters website, Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60-80% of dementia cases. Some diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, that affect memory and thinking will likely worsen over time.
“It’s a topic I hadn’t really been exposed to before, and I spoke to caregivers and people who worked in health care and patients themselves and family members really about how the disease progresses, when it shows up, how it impacts function,” Moore said. “People were so, so generous with their information and really wanted to explain the entire disease to me, and it’s something that often doesn’t show up until much later when the disease has progressed further.”
It’s important to do everything you can to protect your cognitive health.
“Brain health and physical health are really correlated, so I think taking care of your diet and your physical exercise, prioritizing social connections, learning new things, all of those things really, really help brain health,” Moore said. “I do a lot of yoga. I lift weights. I like to travel. I like to see my friends. I challenge myself to do things a little differently, sometimes walking backwards or changing how you hold something. Anything that makes your brain work a little differently, all that stuff is great for brain health.”
Across her more-than-four-decade career, Moore has won awards for roles in “Game Change,” “The Hours,” “Far From Heaven” and many more, but her significant performance in “Still Alice” is one that still carries a legacy today.
“I knew that the script spoke to me. I knew that it was incredibly impactful and emotional, and I always say that we all go to the movies because we see ourselves in them. We see the human condition reflected, and in this case, this is an issue that a lot of people are dealing with, and so I think it ended up being very, very resonant for so many of us,” Moore said.
Over the last few years, Moore has starred alongside Sydney Sweeney (“Echo Valley”), Natalie Portman and Charles Melton (“May December”), Tilda Swinton (“The Room Next Door”), Meghann Fahy and Kevin Bacon (“Sirens”) and Nicholas Galitizine (“Mary & George”).
“I’ve been so fortunate in my career, I really have. I love my work. I love my work because it’s really about what it means to be alive, what it is to be a human being — that’s why we go to the movies,” Moore said. “We see ourselves and our ideas and our thoughts and our emotions reflected all the time, and it’s the same for me, too. My interaction and my work feeds me in the same way.”
And the work on the acting front isn’t stopping anytime soon for Moore.
“I made a really wonderful movie this year with Jesse Eisenberg that will come out next year, and it’s a musical, believe it or not,” Moore said. “He wrote all the music himself, and it’s a really, really wonderful cast. I’m in it with Paul Giamatti, and I think people will really enjoy it.”
Click here to learn more information about the Brain Health Matters campaign. “Still Alice” is now streaming on Netflix.