TORONTO — Molly Ringwald knows the coming-of-age struggle well.
After all, she’s practically the poster girl for growing up, thanks to indelible performances in Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club.
Now age 42 and the mother of three, the ’80s icon is navigating the turmoil of aging again — this time through the self-help book “Getting the Pretty Back,” which she says she wrote to usher anxious adults through the trauma of turning 40.
“It sort of blindsided me a little bit as I think it does a lot of women,” Ringwald says of her own arrival at the milestone on Feb. 18, 2008.
“All of a sudden you turn around and you think, ‘Oh my God I’m 40.’ And for me it just seems really pronounced because I’m so associated with being a teenager that somehow everyone else can turn 40 but not me.”
It’s been nearly 25 years since the red-headed actress carved her place in movie history as the quintessential teen queen.
Those days were marked by a magical partnership with the late director John Hughes, who catapulted Ringwald to her biggest career hits along with fellow decade-defining stars Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall and Emilio Estevez.
With that time in the spotlight came her own personal share of coming-of-age trials, as she juggled a high-profile Hollywood persona with a modest upbringing that included a “pretty strict allowance” despite her soaring salary.
Ringwald says her parents kept a close eye on her career, with her mother outlawing a possible role in David Lynch’s provocative Blue Velvet before Ringwald could even seriously consider it herself.
“I was still a teenager and my parents were pretty instrumental in what I could do and what I couldn’t do and it was something that my mom really felt strongly about,” says Ringwald, acknowledging that she’d also been sent an early script for “Pretty Woman” but didn’t remember whether it came with an official offer to star.
“It never got to the point where I could decide whether or not if I wanted to do it,” she says of Blue Velvet in particular.
“Which is fine. I think ultimately it was more important to have parents that were more protective of me.”
Following a career slump, Ringwald moved to France at age 24 to try life away from the spotlight.
“It really was a time for me just to sort of grow up a little bit and just do whatever I wanted. Even though I kept working during that time, my focus was definitely more on life and experience and learning,” says Ringwald, who started acting at age five.
“I learned French and I went to the culinary school and I travelled a lot. It was really a very, very important time for me in my development as a person.”
Ringwald touches on those years in her light-hearted book, disclosing a smattering of personal details that include a failed first marriage, a miscarriage and clashes with her Greek in-laws, but no celebrity gossip.
The bulk of the book maintains a breezy, conversational tone. Aided by full-colour illustrations, short lists and even a poem by her husband, Ringwald urges women approaching 40 to embrace their age with gusto. There’s style advice (invest in a nude heel), tips on packing a travel bag (stick to a colour palette), and a primer on how to throw a dinner party (six guests is ideal).
Ringwald, who can be seen these days on the teen soap “The Secret Life of The American Teenager” (which airs on MuchMusic), says she’s the “go-to” guru among her friends when they need advice.
And she says she’s long had an innate fashion sense, adding that her personal thrift-shop style heavily influenced the characters she played in her ’80s films. Ringwald says she still has a lot of the outfits she wore onscreen.
“I took all of my wardrobe from Pretty in Pink with the exception of the prom dress because I couldn’t stand it. And now, of course, I’d love to have it because it’s such a seminal piece, you know, it was so specific to a time,” she says in a recent conversation from her home in Los Angeles.
“At the time I sort of was horrified by it and I kind of lobbied to have it changed when we did the movie but we would have had to go back and film other parts.”
Aside from promoting her first book, Ringwald says she’s also trying to launch a singing career. She said she was working on a jazz album largely comprised of old standards, plus an original she wrote with her pianist.
It’s a return to form of sorts — Ringwald says her jazz-pianist father inspired her love of music as kid and even put her on record with his band the Fulton Street Jazz Band at age six.
At the time, I Wanna Be Loved by You, Molly Sings, only brought her incessant teasing and embarrassment at school.
Now, Ringwald says she’s eager to return to that first love.
“I’ve gotten back into interests I had when I was younger and one of them definitely is singing jazz,” she says. “The other is writing.”
Getting the Pretty Back comes out Tuesday.