THE THIRD ACT

I DIDN’T ACTUALLY MEAN it when I told a friend, just before I turned 40, that I was going to make a vision board that was entirely pictures of Sharon Horgan. As funny and clever and always enviably dressed as the actor and creator of the television show Catastrophe is, devoting so much wall to one person could seem like a tiny red flag vis-a-vis my mental state as I slid into midlife.

But whenever I see Horgan on Instagram, on the cover of a weekend magazine or wearing a lime-green chinoiserie one-piece with tulle socks and spike heels on the red carpet, I do let myself be reminded of this: although she spent her twenties and thirties trying to establish herself as an actor, success only came for her at 45. Now aged 48, she’s