And I really also wanted to have the full-body scans to learn if it was anywhere else – and it wasn’t – before I told them. So I didn’t tell them, until for a week,...

I was made to be a perfectionist at everything I did. Everything was more important than what I wanted.

The old argument that the working class won’t enter higher education because they are afraid of getting into debt is patronizing.

I didn’t go into a depression where I stopped. No. I had what I called my days of grief, and they got further and further apart.

When you break up, your whole identity is shattered. It’s like death.

I feel that David took a risk with me. I have a sense that by starting off in the theatre and going off to do films you are seen to sell out in some way....

Well, right now, technically, I have no breast cancer.

I’m very fond of Norfolk. My husband came from there and the kids love it. Devon is beautiful, too.

And I think one can forgive, and I don’t think one can forget. I’m not sure what stage I’ve reached about my marriage yet, but I know I’m past it.

My interpretation of a strong director is someone who knows their story. That’s what directors are, they’re storytellers because they’re directing where your focus is going to be as an audience.

You’ve got to sing sometimes like you don’t need the money. Love sometimes like you’ll never get hurt. You’ve got to dance, dance, dance like nobody’s watching. It’s got to come from the heart if...

I don’t know how I dealt with it. I went to a shrink.

I could never hold a job for more than three months, which works out well because that’s how long a movie shoots.

If you do anything for too long, it starts to lack edge, to become too easy. Easy is the kiss of death.

I’ve travelled around the UK a lot recently and have discovered that I really like trains. If you’re in the quiet carriage, nobody can get hold of you and you can relax.

And I would urge all women to have that regular mammogram.

I can’t hit a ball more than 200 yards. I have no butt. You need a butt if you’re going to hit a golf ball.

You see, money isn’t everything – I know it sounds corny but I really mean it – success means a lot more.

I don’t put off any time with my grandchildren. I don’t put off a thing.

If you’re going to stick around in this business, you have to have the ability to reinvent yourself, whether consciously or unconsciously.

It was a fantastic learning experience and OK, I got slammed because I wasn’t Audrey Hepburn but you could have predicted that, really, if you’d opened your eyes wide enough.

In fact, I’ll be taking a lot of Cathy Gale with me. I expect that was why I was chosen for the part.

And so I was very grateful that I didn’t do the British stiff upper lip, but I went straight to a therapist. And she was wonderful and helpful, and I went for about two years.

I’ve done so many movies that when I see them I don’t really watch them.

It is sensible to have a safeguard against unemployment.

I don’t want marriage. You know why? Because I did that. I did it for 32 years.