Sir Michael Caine feels "lonely" at 90 because so many of his famous friends have died before him.
Michael Caine has insisted he feels lonely since so many of his friends have died
'The Italian Job' star reached the milestone earlier this year, but he's admitted it feels strange to still be around when so many of his contemporaries - including Bond stars Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore - have passed away and he revealed he's often the only man at the table when he throws dinner parties with his second wife Shakira Baksh.
He made the admission in a joint interview with the Guardian newspaper alongside his 'The Great Escaper' co-star John Standing, who declared: "All my mates are brown bread [dead]" and Caine added: "Oh, mine and all. Sean Connery, Roger Moore. Everybody’s dead. It’s amazing ... "
When asked how that feels, Caine replied: "Lonely. I had dinner last night here [at home] with eight women. Shakira gets ’em. I don’t get ’em. They’re the wives of my friends. I’m often sitting with a table full of widows.”
He added: "Ask me a question about football! But I’m perfectly happy with all the girls. I love them."
Caine has been married to his wife Shakira, 76, since 1973 and he went on to insist ageing is less awful if you're coupled with the right person. He explained: "If you’re married to someone really beautiful who doesn’t grow old. I wake up every morning and there she is! ... What is great about her [Shakira] is that she’s very bright. She was the secretary in the … I forget which country she comes from, but she was the secretary of the American embassy, so she’s a great secretary for me. She runs everything. It’s unbelievable.”
Caine has two daughters – Dominique, 67, from his first marriage to the late actress Patricia Haines, and Natasha, 50, from his marriage to Shakira – as well as three grandchildren: 12-year-old twins Miles and Allegra, and 13-year-old boy Taylor.
He recently insisted becoming a grandad has helped keep him young, telling the Daily Mail’s You magazine: "As you get older, you inevitably think about dying, but as soon as you get grandchildren, your focus shifts. “You think about them. You want to go on living because they are so much a part of you, and you want to live for ever to see what they do with their lives. You just want to keep going.” He also said when asked for his secrets to a long life: “Younger wives, no snacking and wear trainers at all times. And you have to be careful not to fall down."
Tagged in Sir Michael Caine Sir Roger Moore Sir Sean Connery