‘There’s no such thing as too much sex’–Susan Sarandon

SARANDON. Portrays Melissa McCarthy’s hard-partying grandma in road-trip comedy.  RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—“Not too much sex,” Susan Sarandon quipped after she said that too much sun, smoking and alcohol are a big no-no in her life. The actress avoids those last three to keep looking good. But, not sex, said the award-winning thespian in this recent afternoon interview at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. “There’s no such thing as too much sex, unless it’s with a lot of unprotected strangers,” she stressed.

“Sex is a good thing,” said the 1996 Oscar Best Actress winner, her huge, beautiful eyes sparkling. “You’re lucky to get it, and it’s important. You get so vulnerable in some ways that I can understand why it’s difficult. But, you should keep having sex as long as you can, definitely.”

“Don’t smoke cigarettes,” advised Susan, whose scene-stealing dog, Penny, walked in ahead of her in the room (more about this little Pomeranian-Maltese mix later). “The sun is the worst—and, too much alcohol!”

“Being happy, eating well and getting exercise” are her musts. “It’s pretty easy in New York. You’re always moving, but I think I’m not atypical of women of my age. There are a lot of women who don’t look like what you thought being 67 was going to look like. I’m surprised myself that I’m this old. I don’t think of it as being close to 70. It’s shocking to me. But, keeping curious and having a sense of humor help enormously.”

Susan, who costars with Melissa McCarthy in the road-trip comedy, “Tammy,” shared, “The other day, I sat on a plane next to somebody who said, ‘You look like a young Susan Sarandon.’ I was flattered, then I thought, ‘Why I am in this business? Is this a good or bad thing that someone next to me on a plane, when I have no make-up on, thinks I look better than in my movies?’”

Asked if she would do certain things differently if she had a chance to start her life all over again, Susan was quick to answer: “I would make all my mistakes faster, but I would make the same ones, because they all led to something that I’m very happy about in one way or another”

First grandkid

Susan, who plays a hard-partying grandma to Melissa’s title character in “Tammy,” is going to have her first grandkid in real life. Actress Eva Amurri, Susan’s daughter with director Franco Amurri, is due to give birth to a girl in August.

“I still can’t quite believe it,” admitted the glamorous grandma-to-be. “It’s hard to get your mind around it when you have a baby who’s actually bringing someone else into the world.”

Melissa’s husband, Ben Falcone, makes his directorial debut with “Tammy,” which also stars Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Sandra Oh, Toni Collette, Mark Duplass, Gary Cole and Nat Faxon.

And yes, Penny also appears in the movie. The adorable dog went up the table as soon as Susan sat down for the interview, sniffed my iPhone, walked around a few times around the table, sat here and there, then took a nap, completely unimpressed with the questions and unmindful of the incessant camera flash.

“Penny should get a publicist,” Susan said, while fondly looking at the little canine. “This is maybe her fifth movie (she was in HBO’s ‘Bernard and Doris’).

“Melissa’s kids love her,” the actress continued. “She loves going on a plane. She loves going to work. She remembers everybody!”

Get this: “Penny tweets from location. She’s got a Twitter account (@mspennypuppy). She has over 4,000 followers!

“I can’t bring my other dog (Rigby), because she eats everything she can find. If you leave her alone for two seconds, and she sees a pocketbook or a backpack on the ground, she unzips it, gets something, then she’s OD’ing.”

“I should have known that giving her a tragic name like Rigby would lead to that kind of life,” Susan dished with a straight face.

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