Susan Sarandon: 'Kids keep me current'

Susan Sarandon would be out of touch with today's culture if it wasn't for her children.

The 69-year-old actress is just as busy with work as she was when she first broke onto the showbiz scene in the '70s, and looks just as fabulous. Despite still being in demand, Susan admits she's struggling to embrace modern ways, especially technology and TV shows.

“Definitely had to become a texter,” she smiled to Vanity Fair. “(My kids) were not answering the phone. I definitely text. Not so much e-mail, mostly texting.

“I think that’s why you have children, so they can keep you abreast to what’s going on culturally. Because look. You know, music and TV? I wouldn’t know about any of these things, because I don’t have a TV set. But I watch stuff with my youngest (son Miles, 23), especially. He’ll introduce me to Nathan for You. Stuff like that that I wouldn’t find.”

She's even joined Instagram so she and her other son Jack, 26, can send pictures back and forth. However she didn't realise her account would be public, therefore chose the username 'susanlovesjack'.

Susan was joined in her interview by fellow actress Rose Byrne, her co-star in comedy-drama flick The Meddler. The Australian star has also felt a cultural divide in her life, but she hasn't been the one confused.

“(I’ll be) on the phone to my parents, telling them about a job I’m doing, and I’m trying to tell them the actors," she laughed. "‘No, Mom, no. It’s... No, no. It’s Susan Sarandon!’ really loudly. And she'll write it down. ‘I’m just writing it down, I’m just writing it down. Where are you filming?’ And she’ll write that whole thing down so she can know what’s happening and tell everybody.”

The pair play mother and daughter in Lorene Scafaria's The Meddler, with Susan playing widow Marnie who begins to interfere in her daughter Lori's (Byrne) life.