There were no examples of girls like myself becoming successful actresses. To be an actress in England was a serious, upper-middle class girl's profession. I just thought I would never be accepted unless I pretended to become somebody I wasn't.

It makes you more open, it gives you perspective, having a child.

I'm still that little girl who lisped and sat in the back of the car and threw vegetables at the back of her head when we drove home from the market. That never goes.

I'm usually put off by performers when they get political.

As an actor, I can just show up and do my job. The success and failure of the film depends on team work.

Nowadays, most women just assume they have a right to be in the workplace, and any kind of discrimination they suffer is sort of more creeping.

It's true that youth is wasted on the young and, if I had my life to live over again, I suppose I would pay more attention to my career. I would make better choices. But, in my defence, I would say that I have three wonderful children, and that's something I am very proud of.

Well, first of all, they're all about the music and all I care about in my professional career is the music.