Helen Mirren never had children. Even so, she knows exactly what the first lesson for a daughter of her own would be.
She said this at The Hollywood Reporter’s actresses’ roundtable, seated alongside Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence and Jane Fonda. Without beating around the bush and without asking permission, she said: “Women have to stop being polite. If I had ever had children, which I didn’t, the first thing I would teach a daughter of mine would be the words ‘fuck off'”.
It’s not a last-minute pose. Mirren, who has been married to director Taylor Hackford since 1997, has said she never regretted not becoming a mother. And from there, with a life chosen on her own terms, she speaks to women of all ages: being polite at all costs is exhausting, too.