Dame Helen Mirren still struggles “enormously” with self-doubt.
Dame Helen Mirren suffers with self-doubt
The award-winning actress believes it is part of human nature to keep questioning yourself but the 78-year-old star has grown to learn to push herself into things that seem “dangerous”.
Asked if she experiences self-doubt, she told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “Enormously – and I still do.
“I don’t know why human beings struggle through life questioning ourselves all the time. We all do.
“In my whole career, the thing that has scared me the most is the thing that I feel I should do.
“The thing that looks like the most dangerous, the thing that I’m most likely to fail at, is the thing that I should jump into and attempt.
“If I fail or not, it doesn’t really matter.
“It’s the journey rather than the arrival, as they say.”
Helen admitted one of the reasons why she enjoys getting older is the “liberating” realisation that not everything is focused on herself.
She added: “I don’t know if the fear gets less, we learn how to handle our fear, I guess that’s what it is.
“And you learn that it becomes less about you, which is one of the great advantages of getting older – you’re not so self-concerned all the time.
“It’s not all about you, it becomes about the wider world and it’s so much more interesting.
“You look outward much more than you look inward. It is completely liberating.”
The former ‘Prime Suspect’ actress recalled the “awful” realisation she had in her 30s that youth was valued over talent.
She said: “In my industry, there is an uncomfortable moment where you realise, ‘Oh, they didn’t want me because I was good, they wanted me because I was young.’
“It hits you around your mid-30s. My mid-30s was over 30 years ago and it was a whole different attitude and understanding in those days.
“That was a pretty awful moment actually, but I don’t think that’s the case any more.
“Life has changed considerably, for all kinds of reasons.”
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