Kathy Bates Looking for 'Mr. Right' Amid 'Matlock' Premiere Looming Retirement

The actress is reportedly ready to shift her focus away from her career and on her personal life.

By Brenda Alexander

Kathy Bates is ready for love, a source exclusively tells Closer. The Oscar-winning actress, 76, recently shed 100 pounds off her 5-foot-3 frame. Now, she reportedly is ready to slow down with her busy career and focus on finding a longtime partner. "Everything I've prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it, and it's exhausting," she says of her role in CBS' Matlock reboot, which she claims is the last acting gig she'll take. "This is my last dance," she added, hinting at her retirement. 

She previously weighed 237 pounds, and now weighs in at 137 pounds. "Kathy is healthier and happier and looking to start a new chapter of her life," the insider tells Closer. "She believes she's accomplished all she can in her career, and now it's time to start focusing on her. She would like to meet someone nice — and now that she's slim and feeling sexier, she wants to put some energy into finding Mr. Right. She doesn't want to spend her retirement years alone."

Kathy has been single since her marriage to Tony Campisi ended in divorce in 1997. But she's now ready to shift her attention on her love life. "She's very excited about the prospect," a source adds.

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In a profile piece for Variety, Bates spoke on ageism in Hollywood. Her career hit its peak when she was 42 when she starred in Misery, earning an Academy Award for her part in the psychological thriller. At 76, she says ageism is real but it's not something she has personally experienced due to her atypical aesthetic like some of her Hollywood peers.

"I always knew going into this business that it was going to take me a while because I wasn't a beauty queen," she said. "I have to say I give an inner wink when I see friends who have been beauty queens who are no longer working because of ageism, and in my case, I've been able to continue working for many years because I don't look like that. I don't think I would have gotten the role in 'Misery' if I had been a beauty queen."

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