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Helen McCrory: 'I assumed being an actress would be all baths full of asses' milk and helicopters to rehearsals'

Helen mostly grew up in Africa - Getty Images Fee
Helen mostly grew up in Africa - Getty Images Fee

We asked the actress, 48, what her younger self would make of her today... 

I was brought up in Africa, where I spent most of my time wandering around beaches or playing football with my friends. There were a huge amount of sea urchins, and my sister and I would explore the rock pools. We had a fantasy about who were the king and queen, and where their court was. Most of my childhood was spent living in a parallel world of underwater urchin royalty. 

I don’t think I slept between the ages of 19 and 36 – I was always working and playing hard

Helen McCrory

There was never any pressure for me to be anything. My parents weren’t what they were supposed to be. They were working-class Celts; Dad was Scottish, Mum Welsh. But Dad became a diplomat and took us all around the world. There were lots of parties. Mum wore long, beautiful, batik Seventies cocktail dresses, kohl eyeliner and smoked Gitanes cigarettes. 

We lived in Madagascar, Cameroon, Tanzania. When I was a teenager my parents moved to Paris and I went to boarding school in Hertfordshire. It was just like going to another country and culture. I was quite happy feeling slightly on the outside – it’s something that helped me to understand that there’s no such thing as normal. 

child
Helen had unruly curls and a vivid imagination as a child

It was at school that I discovered the theatre. Watching plays changed the way I thought. Although I’m thrilled to be in [television drama] Fearless and leading my own show, it’s walking out at the National playing Medea that my 15-year-old self would be most proud of. That’s where it all started.

When I am older I shall be carried down Old Compton Street in my ebony bath chair to have my whisky mac at the Groucho after yet another ragingly successful first night in the West End

Helen McCrory

I loved Siouxsie and the Banshees. There are photos of me in Paris where I clearly thought I looked like Siouxsie Sioux, but I actually look like a slightly overweight Algerian boy. My hair was very curly and dark, and I never used to look in the mirror for too long. If I had, perhaps my fashion choices wouldn’t have been quite so bad. I think the young Helen would have liked the dressing-up side of my life as, strangely, I still do now.

I wasn’t into babies and Barbie dolls but falling in love with my husband [the actor Damian Lewis] and now having my wonderful family is my greatest source of happiness.  

In my 20s I was much more highly strung than I am now. I don’t think I slept between the ages of 19 and 36 – I was always working and playing hard. I never stopped. I still haven’t. When my husband and I go through my schedule we both feel exhausted. 

helen mccrory - Credit: Getty
Helen with her husband Damian Lewis Credit: Getty

The young me would have assumed life as an actress would involve waking up with a bath full of asses’ milk before being brought down in a beautiful turban to read a script, then being helicoptered off to rehearsals and then walking the red carpet. She would be slightly appalled that the truth is you get up at 3.30am in Salford before standing in a freezing, muddy field for 17 hours of filming, only to drive back to learn your lines for the next day and do it all again. The backstage reality of the actor’s world would have horrified her. 

Getting older, you want to give back more. I am patron of three charities and that’s what I’m passionate about. I feel lucky, but mostly because I’m personally very happy. When I am older I shall be carried down Old Compton Street in my ebony bath chair to have my whisky mac at the Groucho after yet another ragingly successful first night in the West End, at the age of 92. I shall look forward to that moment. And I shall still have jet-black hair. 

Fearless continues on Mondays at 9pm on ITV. Catch up with episodes 1 and 2 on the ITV Hub