Posted on 10/23/2007 7:02:09 AM PDT by the_devils_advocate_666
Helen Mirren has described the traumatic moment that influenced her decision not to have children.
The Oscar winning actress revealed in a new interview that a sex education film she watched as a convent school girl was so "disgusting" it put her off motherhood for life.
She said: "I went to a single sex convent school, and even in Biology classes we weren't taught about sexual reproduction. I was about 13, 14, just at that age where you begin to be self conscious about your physicality and about boys and all of that.
"They sat us all down, girls and boys, in this horrible school hall. This tweed skirted, dykey sort of woman with short, cropped hair comes on, and tells us about the miracle of childbirth. Then this film comes on, which is a midwives educational film.
"There is a close-up of a woman having a baby, a close up straight up her vagina, and that's all you see, and these are thirteen year old boys and girls, and its bloody and disgusting.
"Within thirty seconds two boys had fainted and the lights went on and they were carried out."
"I put my hands over my face because I realised I couldn't watch this."
The actress, who is married to American director Taylor Hackford, said she was deeply affected by the film: "I swear it traumatised me, I haven't had children and I can't look at anything to do with childbirth, it absolutely disgusts me."
"I think that this film has a lot to do with the fact I didn't have children. I'm not a motherly sort of person."
Mirren professed that this episode did not affect her sex life however: "My early sexual experiences were crap because the men were crap. They were just nasty boys."
In the show, Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, which aired in Australia this week, Helen Mirren also talked about her mother: "She was horrible, she could say very cruel things and it was difficult at home.
"I've sort of wiped it from my memory actually. She wasn't born to be a mother.
"She could be mean. She'd say just very, very hurtful, bitchy things. It was impossible for us ever to take a boyfriend home."
And despite her busy schedule, Dame Helen reveals that she keeps her work diary full because she is naturally lazy: "I know I'm lazy. I'm a wage slave. I need a timetable.
"If I don't have to be there I'll lie in bed until twelve and watch daytime television."
I bet she supports abortion though.
She must squeak when she walks.
Too bad - I mistakenly thought that Ms. Mirren was a classy lady. How wrong I was.
She claims they were taught nothing about reproduction, and in the next sentence says they were shown a graphic film of a childbirth. I’m not sure I believe this story. Doesn’t sound like the kind of film they would have shown to a mixed group - or even to a sex-segregated group - in the Catholic school that I attended.
Very good point.
So she went to a “single-sex convent school” but in this class there were “girls and boys” and “two of the boys fainted.” (?)
I guess being a celebrity means that you just assume that the whole world is automatically and totally fascinated with the most minute details of your personal life. I’ve found out way more than I would ever want to know about this woman, including that she appears to be nutty.
I know there are plenty of people who find childbirth to be the most beautiful thing on the face on earth and in theory, the miracle of it is. In reality, it’s messy and painful and gross. I’m not all that surprised that it grossed her out to watch that as a young girl. Hell, I had no desire to watch mine whatsoever. ‘You can look in the mirror if you’d like.’ Um, no dice, thank you very much.
Funny you would say that, check the Keywords I added with the original article post.
How sad. What she has missed!
The genetic code for “b*tch from h*ll” is being slowly bred out of the species, it would appear.
She claims they were taught nothing about reproduction, and in the next sentence says they were shown a graphic film of a childbirth.
&&
Also, she says she was in a same-sex convent school, yet the film was shown to a mixed audience of students.
Her lying and her degrading motherhood make her sound like a typical Hollywood type, but as another commented, thank goodness she did not have any children.
My thoughts, exactly.
No, I wouldn't want to see her raising a child. However, why does she find it necessary to spew her ignorant opinion about it? As I said, I admired her as an actress - disappointing to see that she's just another Hollywood twit.
More likely she disgusts men and, who knows, perhaps many lesbian women too.
We could have told them that. Some of us tried.
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