Judy Blume on Her Joyful Life at 85: 'Keep Dancing! Keep Doing Whatever You Can Do' (Exclusive)

Sitting on the rooftop deck of the nonprofit arts center that houses her bookstore in Key West, Fla., Judy Blume is soaking up the sunshine. In the middle of a press junket following a screening of the first film adaptation of her iconic 1970 novel, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, she radiates joy. The movie, which stars Rachael McAdams, Abby Ryder Fortson and Kathy Bates, comes out April 28. Watching it get made, Blume says, was "the experience of a lifetime!"

What a lifetime it's been — and she's not done yet.

Blume has written 29 books for children and adults (with 90 million copies sold), won scads of awards in her field (including being honored as a "living legend" by the Library of Congress) and traveled the world meeting readers and fans. She's come a long way from being a little New Jersey girl who used to talk to God, asking for protection for her beloved father when they were apart. At 85, she's happier than ever, blissfully married to her "wonderful" third husband, George Cooper, also 85, reveling in life as a bookseller (the couple have owned Books & Books in Key West since 2016) and continuing to speak out on the rights of children to read what they like. With the release of the Margaret movie, as well as Judy Blume Forever, a documentary about her, Blume could be excused for resting on her laurels. But she isn't done yet.

"I don't know what 85 means," Blume says. "But I feel that there's a lot more that I want to do. I love doing this."

Born in 1938 and raised in suburban Elizabeth, New Jersey, Blume began writing as a young housewife when her two young children (daughter Randy was born in 1961, son Lawrence in 1963) were small. She was then married to her first husband, John Blume, a lawyer she had met while in college. "I'm an intuitive writer," she says, looking back. "I don't analyze a lot and the story just comes."

Once the stories started coming, they didn't stop. After Margaret came Deenie, Blubber and Forever, among others, which addressed then-taboo subjects like menstruation and masturbation. Blume became a public figure, appearing on television to talk about writing for kids, and sometimes to defend her work against the criticism it attracted.

"A book cannot harm a child," Blume says in a film clip from the documentary, and as an active member of the National Coalition Against Censorship, the author continues to advocate for the freedom to read.

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At the same time, she was navigating her own life changes. Her marriage to John ended (Blume calls it "a long, perfectly reasonable first marriage of 16 years") and she soon embarked on a disastrous second marriage (which she remembers as "jumping into the frying pan — a small disaster for me"). Around the time of her second divorce, Blume began writing books for adults — the first, Wifey, came out in 1978.

In 1979, she met Cooper, then a law professor. "He moved in on our second date," Blume says, and they've been together ever since. "We've been through a lot together and he's wonderful," she adds. "I mean, we're so different. We're so the same, but then we're so different. He's laid back. No anxieties. And he makes me feel so safe in my world, just being with him."

So how does Judy Blume account for her joy — and enduring beauty — at 85? "Isn't it luck, really?" she asks. "It's luck and maybe it's genes."

Part of her legendary energy goes back to her own father, who died in 1959. "I always thought I would die really young because of my father's family. Nobody lived to be 60," she says. It had an impact on her own life, Blume thinks, prompting her to "Hurry, hurry, hurry. Another book, another book, another book. Hurry, hurry, hurry. And [then you] turn around and suddenly you're 85."

Above all, she says, "Keep moving. Keep dancing! Keep doing whatever you can do."

Judy Blume Forever will begin streaming on Prime Video April 21.