I love spooky season. As soon as we hit the beginning of fall, my Halloween decorations come out. I even put up lights outside on my deck in addition to my many indoor lights and decorations. Fall and Halloween-season just makes me so happy. I know that not everyone goes all out like I do. As it turns out, the Scream Queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, doesn’t do anything to celebrate the holiday anymore. In a recent interview with People, Jamie Lee confessed that now that her children are grown, her days of decorating are over, as there’s no more “pressure to go all out.”
While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles 2024 Gala on Saturday, Oct. 5, Curtis — known for starring as Laurie Strode for more than four decades in the Halloween movies — insisted she “no longer” feels the “pressure to go all out” on Oct. 31 despite her iconic role.
“I have retired my pumpkins. I have hung up my butcher knives. I have stepped away from the vehicle. I am bowing gently to others who are taking up the mantle,” Curtis, 65, said.
The Freaky Friday star isn’t even planning on decorating her house for the holiday this year.
“Nothing. Zip,” she insisted, adding that “Nobody comes by our house except my neighbor and we do that at like three o’clock,” so she won’t feel the pressure to answer the door to anybody.
“My children are old enough now that they don’t want me to decorate for them. So no, I’m just gently stepping into the darkness,” Curtis jokingly told PEOPLE, referencing her two daughters Ruby, 28, and Annie, 37; whom she shares with screenwriter husband Christopher Guest, 76.
The actress first appeared on screens as Laurie in the original Halloween flick back in 1978. She made her final appearance in 2022’s Halloween Ends. The John Carpenter classic famously introduced horror fans to Michael Myers (a.k.a. “The Shape”), with the original movie spawning 12 additional films; many of which Curtis starred in. The franchise has made more than $1 billion through the years and counting.
Despite the franchise’s success, Curtis doesn’t celebrate Halloween by watching herself in the movies. “No, what kind of life do you think I have?” she joked to PEOPLE.
Curtis’ comments come after she spoke about being known for her Halloween role in a PEOPLE essay in 2022.
“You call me the Scream Queen. I don’t call myself that, but I get it. Not the queen part. The scream part. But what you may not know about me is that I scare easily — and often,” she insisted at the time.
I respect Jamie Lee’s reasoning for no longer decorating for Halloween. A lot of people get to a point where don’t feel the need to go all out for holidays anymore. That said, I don’t decorate for my kids, I decorate for me! No, seriously, they love it, but I think I genuinely love decorating for Halloween more than they do. I decorated for years before they were born and I’ll be putting out my spooky candelabras, pumpkins, spiderwebs, and outdoor lights well after they move out, haha. They’re here for all of the Christmas decorations, though.
I have a confession, though. I’ve never seen any of the Halloween movies beyond the first first one. I don’t mind horror flicks, but I haven’t really sought them out since my college days. I did watch a really fun one last year called Totally Killer, which starred Kiernan Shipka, Julie Bowen, and Olivia Holt. It’s basically Scream meets Back to the Future. I totally recommend it if you’re looking for a fun Halloween movie to watch.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Derek Ross / Avalon, Look Press Agency/Look Press / Avalon
I decorate for the neighborhood but Jamie probably doesn’t have a lot of people just walking past her house
If I were her with that whole legacy following me around I would just put up a bunch of Christmas decorations to mess with everyone. 😂
I must confess this is the first year in a long time that I need to get a Halloween costume (for a charity thing I am helping out with)…and I am unreasonably excited to have the excuse! 😁
There are so many cute *and* polite little kids in the neighborhood, no idea how that happed all of a sudden, who all have such beautiful costumes — so of course we’ll go a little bit overboard with spooky deco and lights.
We don’t dress up though.
The funny thing is that it really took quite a while for Halloween to establish itself over here, as it’s traditionally been a holiday — Reformation Day.
I’m with her. Now that the children and grandchildren are grown, my decorating days are over. No pressure to be crafty and clever anymore. Liberating.
My kid is grown, but I’m still decorating – lights, inflatables, pumpkins outside and decorations with spider webs on the inside. I love Halloween so much!!! I don’t dress up though.
Very few people in our neighborhood are decorating this year and that makes me sad.
Also, I love the Halloween movies, except for Halloween ends. I started watching them in August.
I have always found Halloween decor that gets into gross out territory very tacky. This year especially, all I see in my mind when I see fake blood and those stupid severed body part decorations in front lawns are the pictures from the destroyed homes in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. Ugh. Who thinks that is fun right now of all times? What is going through their mind?