Who are we to judge a grande dame’s unflinching, witty honesty?

Thinking that people might get the wrong idea once the tabs had gotten their hooks into Helen Mirren’s candid remarks about cocaine use, date rape and stealing food while poor, the Oscar winner’s rep has reminded us of the magic word:

Context.

“Helen Mirren does not dispute the accuracy of statements attributed to her in an upcoming GQ article,” read a statement released Tuesday by Mirren’s publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

“She merely asks that people read the article in its entirety before drawing conclusions. If they do that, she says, their conclusions will likely be far less sweeping and sensational than those drawn by some in the popular press. She does not wish to qualify any of her remarks. She just wants to avoid having them presented in inflammatory language.”

The queen of salty award-show chatter needn’t fear—her lingo is entertaining enough on its own.

Here are some more snippets from her interview in the October issue of British GQ, which sure isn’t skimping on the sensationalism itself. Most of what she says really is about acting. Or, acting while naked:

* On taking off her clothes (more than once) on film: “Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson were my heroines, and they had got their own kit off quite happily from time to time while remaining really great actresses—the best in the country. And if they can do it, then f–k it—why not me?”

* When asked whether being beautiful has been an advantage in her career: “Well, no, actually it can be a terrible disadvantage. Because you’re not allowed to be intelligent if you’re a woman with big t-ts and blonde hair.”

* On plastic surgery: “Talking about plastic surgery is like talking about gynaecology, it’s just not right, tasteless. Having said that, if someone is miserable the way they look, why the hell should they have to keep getting up and feeling that way—let them do something about it.”

* How she really feels about drugs: “I hated it. Dope always made me feel miserable and paranoid and unhappy. And I woke up one day and thought, no more of that, thank you.”

Source

WENN

Helen Mirren was date-raped while she was a student, she has revealed.

The Oscar-winning actress told GQ magazine that she was locked in a room and forced to have sex “a couple of times” during her college days but did not report the incidents because “you couldn’t do that in those days”.

The 63-year-old also opined that not all cases of the kind in which she was involved should go to court.

“It’s such a tricky area, isn’t it? Especially if there is no violence,” she continued. “I mean, look at Mike Tyson. I don’t think he was a rapist.

“I guess it is one of the many subtle parts of the men/women relationship that has to be negotiated and worked out between them.”

Dame Helen, an Oscar-winner for her portrayal of the Queen, said she was “pretty naive” when she moved to London as a teenager.

“And I found guys were horrible, mean, rude, insulting, and so without feeling,” she added.

“And I was looking for love and for someone who just liked me, made me laugh and was nice to me. And instead I just met all these creeps.”

She went on: “I was [date-raped], yes. A couple of times.

“Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will.”

The actress also explained that she “loved coke” [cocaine] during her younger days but stopped after learning of the drug-dealing success of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie.

“Until that moment I had never grasped the full horrifying structure of what brings coke to our parties in Britain,” she told GQ interviewer Piers Morgan.

Source

WENN

Helen Mirren nearly turned her back on acting because she wanted to dedicate her life to her husband Taylor Hackford.

The Queen star married director Hackford in 1997 after an 11-year romance – and confesses she almost quit her craft when she was continually overlooked for movie roles.

She says, “Eventually I felt that I had to put my relationship before work. There was a time when I felt like giving up on my career because all the decent roles were being given to Hollywood actresses with bigger profiles than me.”

But the 62-year-old’s husband convinced her she could be successful as a wife and an actress.

Mirren adds, “He just took me aside and said: ‘Don’t worry. We’re only this far along in our life together and still have all that time to go. Some will be hard and some will be easy but we’ll make it.”

Source

WENN

Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren was only cast in a new epic movie because Meryl Streep turned down her part.

The star plays the wife of War And Peace author Leo Tolstoy in new movie The Last Station, but she wasn’t director Michael Hoffman’s first choice for the role.

But Mirren insists she is unfazed by the knowledge she failed to make the top of Hoffman’s wish list – and instead the knock back inspires her to work even harder to prove herself.

She says, “Michael, I know very well that you offered the part to Meryl Streep before me, but it just makes me want to work all the harder. It’s a really great role, and Meryl: I’m afraid you made a big mistake.”

Source

WENN

WENN

Helen Mirren considers herself to have been born to act – because her Russian ancestors created the country’s first ever theater.

The actress, who has a Russian father and whose real name is Illiana Mironova, made the discovery while researching her new autobiography, In The Frame: My Life In Words And Pictures.

Mirren explains, “I think it has to be genetic. One of my Russian ancestors started the first theater in Russia, a serf theater on his estate in the 18th century. It was one of the very first formal theaters. But my mother was a huge drama queen, so it could have come from her side of the family also.”

Source

WENN

Katherine Heigl

Helen Mirren

Tilda Swinton

James McAvoy

Jennifer Hudson

Penelope Cruz

Laura Linney

Cameron Diaz

Hilary Swank

Amy Adams

Daniel Day-Lewis

Anne Hathaway

Jessica Alba & Cash Warren

Keri Russell

Jennifer Garner

Heidi Klum & Seal

Miley Cyrus

John Travolta & Kelly Preston

Heidi Klum, Seal, Miley Cyrus, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Jessica Alba & Cash Warren arrive for the Oscars tonight.

WENN

UPDATE: More pictures!