The Actor Who Inspired Courtney Love to Return to Acting

— -- Former grunge queen and wild child Courtney Love has finally grown up.

"I've really turned the corner in the past three or four years," Love wrote in a new essay in Harper’s Bazaar about her outlook on life, aging and beauty. "It began when I decided to get back into acting, and to do that you need to look as good as you can — even if you're aging."

Love, 51, who earned rave reviews in 1996’s “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” recently returned to acting with guest roles on “Empire” and “Revenge.” But the rocker said she’s not worried about aging on screen.

"To me, aging gracefully is to let it happen and accept it," Love wrote, acknowledging that she’s been blessed with “genetically good skin,” which she’s taken good care of since childhood. "Fighting it always seems to backfire and make people look ridiculous. You see actresses get work done and it makes them look unrecognizable.”

She added, “I look at these actresses like Diane Keaton, who has never had anything done, and I think that's cool. It's sexy, really.”

Love was inspired to make her Hollywood comeback after seeing Sean Penn in 2011’s “This Must Be the Place,” in which he plays a retired rock star.

"I always think that if I were a guy, I would be Sean — he’s like my male doppelgänger,” she wrote. “That film lit a fire in my belly.”

Since getting in touch with Penn’s agent, Love said, she’s been focused on getting better at her craft and paying her dues.

Going out on Oscar night this year, she wrote, was like being at a high school reunion with old friends. “When I see people like Leonardo DiCaprio or Mick Jagger or producers and directors, everyone's like, ‘Oh, God, Court! Hi! How are you?’ It's like I haven't been gone at all,” she wrote.