Helen Mirren Reveals: “I Never Felt the Need For a Child”

She’s an Oscar-winning actress, but one real-life role Helen Mirren has never wanted to play? Mother. The 68-year-old reveals she doesn’t have much of a maternal instinct.

“I never felt the need for a child and never felt the loss of it,” she admits in a new interview. “I’d always put my work before anything.”

Helen also never expected to get married, calling the institution “voluntary imprisonment,” until she met director Taylor Hackford.

The couple have been married for 17 years, and though Helen deeply loves her husband, the Red star enjoys being by herself, especially when it comes to her acting process which she calls “a very lonely operation.”

But even as one of the most well-liked actresses in Hollywood, Helen still finds her sex symbol status laughable.

“They’re not thinking straight,” the Brit jokes about her many admirers, insisting she only wears “stripper heels” because she’s 5’4”. And though she’s bared all in movies such as Caligula and Calendar Girls, Helen admits she’s “vaguely embarrassed” by those nude scenes.

Helen Mirren On Aging: “Getting Older Is F—ing Great!”

“[Sex appeal] becomes less relevant with age, which is a good thing,” she tells AARP The Magazine. “Everything changes as we get older, and we have to applaud that fact, don’t we?”

And while she may not feel young anymore, Dame Helen can happily say, “I don’t feel creaky and old.”