Milestone birthdays are always nerve-wracking, no matter what age you’ve reached. For a long time, though, women have always eyed their 50th birthdays in particular with something not unlike trepidation.

It’s easy to see why. Forget the menopause: we’ve always been more concerned about the fact that, in most studies of happiness, life satisfaction bottoms out in the early fifties. That we will suddenly become social pariahs (just look what everyone said about Keanu Reeves’ girlfriend Alexandra Grant, and she’s only 46!). That our money worries will only increase: as reported by the Office for National Statistics in 2019, the gender pay gap is still sat at over 15% among 50 to 59-year-olds. Why? Because women over 40 are apparently more likely to work in lower-paid occupations and, compared with younger women, are less likely to work as managers, directors or senior officials.

In 2020, though, things are changing. Take the Oscars, for example: since 2010, best actresses had an average age of 41, up from 36 in the previous decade (2000-2009). Two years ago, a (then) 50-year-old Nicole Kidman accepted her first ever Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in HBO’s Big Little Lies. Tess Daly and Davina McCall, with Strictly Come Dancing and The Masked Singer, are repping prime-time Saturday TV shows. And, this year, we watched in awe as a 50-year-old Jennifer Lopez teamed up with Shakira for an unforgettable Super Bowl halftime show.

Minnie Driver really isn’t here for the phrase “50 is the new…”