'Beauty Comes From Within'

Dame Helen Mirren, ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, talks to Nathalie Whittle about dealing with insecurity, managing bad hair days and the beauty secrets she swears by…

- Nathalie Whittle

Helen Mirren is married to American film director Taylor Hackford. She splits her time between their homes in London, the US and Italy.

Have I ever had moments of self doubt?

Oh, every day! I used to be so terrified of parties and, although I’m much better than I used to be, I still have spells of massive insecurity. Sometimes it’s so extreme that I have to lock myself in the toilet to get myself together and talk myself into going out and dealing with what’s in front of me. I think that’s partly why I’m an actress because when I’m acting I can pretend to be someone else – it’s when I’m dealing with just being myself that things get tricky.

I grew up in that era when, as a young woman, your voice was just dismissed – your opinion and your thoughts weren’t considered important.

It wasn’t until I did Prime Suspect in 1991 [Helen won three consecutive BAFTA Awards for her role as Jane Tennison] that things started to change. That was the first time I felt as though people were actually listening to what I had to say and they were interested in my contribution to the work. It gave me a huge boost of confidence, so now I’m very careful to make sure I listen to people – whoever they are.