Vertigo Star Kim Novak Is Spending Her 91st Birthday with ‘Friends and Lots of Fudge’ (Exclusive)

Tuesday marks the 91st birthday for Kim Novak, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo, who walked away from Hollywood over five decades ago.

“She’s spending her birthday having a picnic on her property with friends and lots of fudge,” says her longtime manager and close friend Sue Cameron.

Life is sweet these days for Novak, who lives quietly on the Oregon coast, surrounded by her beloved horses.

In honor of her 91st birthday, read on for an interview from 2021 in which Novak shared why she left Hollywood and found her true self.

Over 50 years ago, Kim Novak, the enigmatic star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, walked away from Hollywood. The woman who had once been the No. 1 box office draw in the world put her belongings in a van and drove north, first to Carmel, California and then two decades later to Oregon, to live her life as an artist.

“I had to leave to survive,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was a survival issue.”

“I lost a sense of who I truly was and what I stood for,” says Novak in a rare interview to talk about her new book, Kim Novak : Her Art and Life. published by the Butler Museum of American Art.

“I fought all the time back in Hollywood to keep my identity so you do whatever you have to do to hold on to who you are and what you stand for,” she explains.

“I’ve never done one of those tell-all books that they wanted me to do for so long, and I thought this is the kind of book I’d like to do,” she says of her art book. “Actually, I had written my autobiography and it was almost complete but I had a house fire and the house burned down and I made no copies. I just couldn’t go through it again because I had spent so much time. But it was okay because it was a catharsis just to do it.”

After starring in Picnic (1955) with William Holden, The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) and Pal Joey (1957), opposite Frank Sinatra, and Vertigo, with Jimmy Stewart, Novak was at the height of her career but still under the control of the studio.

As she writes in her book’s introduction, “I was both dazzled and disturbed to see me being packaged as a Hollywood sex symbol. However, I did win my fight over identity. I wouldn’t allow [Columbia Pictures chief] Harry Cohn to take my bohemian roots away by denying me my family name. Novak. I stood my ground and won my first major battle.”

Cohn wanted her to change her name to Kit Marlowe, telling her that audiences would be turned off by her Eastern European roots. She refused. In the late ’50s, she defied him again when she began dating singer Sammy Davis Jr. against his wishes and she fought to live her life as an independent woman.

“There was constant pressure to be seen and not heard,” writes Novak, “especially if you had a pretty face.”

“In Hollywood a lot of people assume who you are, because of the character you play, but also just because of who they expect you to be, how they expect you to dress,” she says. “It influences you because if you’re in some gorgeous sequined gown, you can’t run along the ocean and run on the beaches.”

“I kept feeling like I was going deeper and deeper, lost in almost like a quicksand, where it’s swallowing you up, your own personality, and I’d started to wonder who I am,” she explains. “I realized needed to save myself.”

She found peace living and painting in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon and notes, “I needed the Pacific Ocean to inspire me, the animals, the beauty.”

“I wanted to live a normal life and a life with animals,” says the actress, who had always loved drawing and painting as a young girl growing up in Chicago. She was awarded two scholarships to the Chicago Art Institute before she was spotted by a talent scout on a trip to L.A. and her life changed course.

Once she left Hollywood, Novak returned to her twin passions: art and animals. “My teachers were the animals, not just dogs and cats, but other animals, horses and llamas, whom you have to meet half way, because they’re not ready to accept humans. I had to learn to win them over,” she says. “They understand a person who’s genuine so I had to become more real and that made me rely on my inner self — and that also encouraged me to paint. Everything seemed to flow from that.”

“You learn how to count on, not how you look, which is a big thing as a movie star, especially if you were recognized because of how you look,” she adds. “That can be a difficult thing when you change — but looks had nothing to do with it.”

She met second husband, Robert Malloy, an equine veterinarian, in the late ’70s, when he paid her a house call to treat one of her Arabian horses. She called him her “soul mate.” He died last December.

“I don’t feel 87,” says Novak. “I don’t keep tract of the time. If I did, I’d be an old lady and I’m not an old lady. I’m still riding my horse. I stay as healthy as I can.”

In 2012, Novak revealed she’d been living with bipolar disorder. “I don’t mind being open about who I am because these are all characteristics which make you who you are, especially as an artist,” she says. “Now, of course, I have medication for it but the best medicine of all is art.”

She’s proud of her favorite films, including Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), and has fond memories, especially of her friend and costar Jimmy Stewart. Says Novak: “He didn’t let Hollywood change who he was.”

“People can remember me in movies but I want them to see me as an artist,” says Novak, whose paintings were exhibited at a 2019 retrospective at the Butler Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. “What’s great about painting is, you become the director too. No one’s telling you how to do it. You get to direct the whole thing.”

“I’ve been influenced a lot by Hitchcock in my work because he did mysteries and at first glance, I want my painting to be a mystery,” she says. “I love being the director, the producer, the actor in my paintings.”

“This is who I am. I want people to see I was not just a movie star.”

Looking back, Novak says, “I’m so glad I didn’t do the tell-all book, where you write all about your love life. That wasn’t who I was. This book tells who I am. I just needed to be free.”

Nursе, 31, Sреnt $200,000 Оn Соsmеtiс Рrосеdurеs То Lооk Likе А Ваrbiе

The media of today is a constant influence. Images of the ideal job, a stunning home or automobile, and a flawless smile with brilliant white teeth are all around us.

The ideals that so many women measure themselves to today—thanks to the fashion industry—are the most important issue.

For many women, it begins early in life. Some, as small children, receive their very first Barbie doll.

In today’s story, a nurse named Tara Jayne spent $200,000 getting plastic surgery to help her transform into the iconic Barbie because she wanted that appearance so desperately.

Barbie’s Brief History

Here’s a little background on the renowned Barbie doll, who so many people desire to be, before we get into that.

Barbie has had a significant impact on contemporary culture. In 1959, she made her stage debut in America.

Ever since, she has been the embodiment of every young girl’s ideal body being presented as the idealized representation of a woman. created by Ruth and Elliot Handler as a response to their daughter’s habit of crumpling paper pieces to form dolls that resembled grown-ups.

Ironically, rather than being a fashion and body image icon, She was supposed to encourage ideas of their future, which was a critical issue for young girls during that period.

With their design, Elliot and his wife Ruth most likеly did not anticipate making history, but they certainly did!

Cosmetic Nurse Becomes Barbie Personified

Nowadays, a great number of women are using cosmetic surgery to change the way certain areas of their bodies look, including facelifts, Botox, fillers, breast augmentations, and many other procedures.

If you work as a cosmetic nurse, you are likеly to see these costly procedures on a regular basis. Therefore, it makes sense that they would want to take care of themselves.

Today’s narrative centers on Tara Jayne, a cosmetic nurse who enjoys occasionally having a minor cosmetic operation done.

Tara is so infatuated with it that she has spent $200,000 on several plastic surgery procedures to make her look likе a Barbie doll. She claims that having plastic surgery allows her to “express beauty and empowerment.”

She’s had numerous nose jobs, up to five breast augmentations, and endless Botox and fillers thus far.

This requires a great deal of commitment and is also extremely costly.

Injections of Botox and filler are excellent for their anti-aging properties as well as for plumping or even contouring areas of your face, such as your cheekbones or lips.

Tara’s numerous surgeries have earned her some notoriety. With over 96,000 followers on her cosmetic journey and daily life as Barbie personified, tara_jayn3 is her Instagram username.

She has since conducted numerous interviews for various media outlets and written magazine pieces. She even made the following statement on the Morning Show: “I think it’s very important for a woman to be able to express the way they feel Just express everything about beauty in this day and age.”

An Expensive Hobby

Most people learn a new skiII, likе photography or making jewelry, when they want a new hobby. Jayne’s hobby is getting some form of cosmetic procedure done.

She gets her lips done about 30 times each year, and that must cost a pretty penny or two. “It’s quite easy to spend $2000 to $5000 at a time; it’s a pretty expensive hobby.” Said Jayne.

Luckily for Jay, she has many sponsors. All who likе to support this hobby of hers, and her family is also there to lend a hand.

Similar to hobbies, as soon as you get to a new level, you want to study everything you can about it in order to become an authority.

Jayne’s next operation involves getting personalized breast implants. These are designed to allow her to have 1500cc breasts rather than 1000cc.

She intends to complete this task in six months. We wish her the best of luck with her future body alterations, as this is a big task.

Here’s how she looked likе before the procedures…