“
She told that same friend something Ari used to say, an aphorism some might’ve found offensive but which Jackie thought was clever, if cynical. “He used to say, ‘A woman is like the world,’” she recalled. “‘At twenty years of age, she’s like Africa, semi-explored. At thirty, she’s India, warm, mature and mysterious. At forty, she’s America, technically perfect, but superficial because, deep down, she’s troubled. At fifty, she’s Europe, completely and utterly in ruins. And at sixty, she’s Siberia. Everyone knows where she is, but no one wants to go to her.’ After we had a good laugh, I made him promise to tell me that story every ten years,” Jackie concluded. She added, “I’m fifty now and, I guess, completely and utterly in ruins.
”
”
J. Randy Taraborrelli (Jackie: Public, Private, Secret)