Meryl Streep admits she’s past her “sell by date”. The Oscar-winning actress can’t believe she’s still be offered roles in high-profile movies now she’s reached 60 as she knows Hollywood discriminates against older women.

She said: “It’s incredible – I’m 60, and I’m playing the romantic lead in romantic comedies. Bette Davis is rolling over in her grave. “I’ve been given great, weird, interesting parts well past my ’sell by date’. I remember saying to my husband Don when I was 38, ‘Well, it’s over.’ And then we kicked the can down the road a little further.” Meryl – who won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in ‘Sophie’s Choice’ and the Best Supporting Actress for ‘Kramer Vs Kramer’ – also says she’s given up worrying what people think of her.

She told Vanity Fair magazine: “I can’t remember the last time I really worried about being appealing. I think it was a really long time ago. It’s freeing as an actress, but whether a director likes it or not is a different thing. I remember [director and co-star] Albert Brooks saying to me in ‘Defending Your Life,’ ‘Could you just make it a little sweeter?’ And that’s been repeated by other people in the years since then.”