Rita Moreno Says She Struggles With Feeling Lonely In Her 90s

In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Rita Moreno confessed to feeling lonely after she moved from her California’s Berkeley Hills area home to a new condominium. Her husband of 45 years, Leonard Gordon, died in 2010, leaving her alone with their daughter, jewelry designer Fernanda Luisa.

Luisa is worried for her mother, who feels sad and unable to make friends. “She said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said I didn’t know. I didn’t know what was wrong. I really didn’t understand what was happening,” Rita said. “I’m in the most beautiful apartment in the world as far as I’m concerned, and this is happening.”

Rita had to meet new people

Rita’s surviving family, including her daughter and two grandsons, live far away from her, prompting the actress to make new friends. “We have to make plans; they can’t just kind of drop by. I was really lonely. I’ve never had to seek people’s company,” she explains. “You know why? Because people have always come to me.”

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Rita took the initiative and began to reach out to people by herself. “One day, I thought, ‘This is ridiculous. I have to meet some people,'” she added. “That particular day when I made that decision, I went to the supermarket to do some shopping, and I ran into a lady who I kept running into, who’s lovely.”

Rita feels less alone lately

Rita asked her new friend to lunch, and they have since become close. The “lovely” lady was curious to know if Rita always “picked people up like this in the supermarket.”

“I told her the truth. I said, ‘No, but you always have struck me as such a lovely person. Since I’m new here and I don’t know anybody, I thought I’d take a dip.'” the West Side Story icon recalled.

She also met “marvelous” people from “the apartment, the building,” whom she feels lucky to have. “I’m so lucky,” she quipped. The Brady star turns 92 in less than two weeks, and she looks forward to celebrating with invitees who she doubts her house can contain. I have a condo that I absolutely adore. It’s beautiful, but it won’t hold all of the people that I have for my birthday because I always have fabulous birthdays,” she told the outlet.