Glenn Close wants to end her life in a place that has meant the world to her since childhood. The actress is building a stone cottage modeled after her grandparents’ cozy home, and she says she cannot think of a better setting to spend her final days. The 78-year-old actress adored spending time on the warm, inviting property when she was a youngster, and those memories stayed with her long after she grew up. For Close, the project is more than a renovation or a design dream. It is a full-circle return to a space that made her feel safe, inspired, and deeply happy.
Appearing on the latest episode of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Wiser Than Me podcast, Close explained why the cottage has always held such a powerful place in her heart. “They had this wonderful stone cottage on their farm, on their property that I think originally had been a slaughterhouse,” she remembered. “But it was made into this really cozy cottage. And that was my first memory, in that little cottage.”
As she spoke, Close painted a picture of the idyllic setting that has stayed with her for decades. “Stone, it had ivy on the front,” she recalled. “It had literally a white picket fence around it, in the middle of a hay field and woods.”
That early sense of comfort is what inspired her to recreate it now, as she’s building a home that reflects where she has been and where she hopes to go next. “So I decided when I was building this house, because I’m living my life backward, that behind the house I was gonna build a cottage, a stone cottage,” Close explained.
“Because the happiest and most inspiring years of my life was in that place.” And then she shared the part of the plan that left Louis-Dreyfus stunned. “I have decided that I am going to end my days in that cottage,” Close said.
The All’s Fair legend, who lives in Bozeman, Montana, added that the cottage will have “two bedrooms,” one for herself and another for her eventual caretaker. Despite the seriousness of the subject, Close suggested she still feels youthful at 78, admitting she feels “probably around in my 20s, maybe early 30s.”
“And that’s where I’m gonna die, happily,” she said.
Louis-Dreyfus, 64, was visibly impressed by Close’s clarity and control, telling her she could not believe her “extraordinary” plans. Close responded by revealing that construction is already well underway, and the project is moving quickly.
“I think the stone part is built,” Close shared. “And I think this week they’re starting the porch, there’s a little porch that goes down onto a terrace that’s between the cottage and the bigger house.” She added that imagining it finished brings her a deep sense of peace. “It makes me so happy to think that,” Close said.
Louis-Dreyfus continued to marvel at how thoughtfully Close has shaped her life and how intentional she seems about what comes next. “I think that’s such an incredible thing to really, you call it living your life backwards, but you’re really sort of in control of things in a way that most people don’t get the opportunity to do,” she said.
“And I think that’s extraordinary that you’ve been able to pull that off. And I’m just now thinking, I got to build a cottage around here for myself.”