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SuccessionsLady Caroline talks beating anorexia, declining marriage proposals, and envying Meryl Streep.
Its very different [now], she says.
Theres a diaspora, into social media, into blogs.
Anybody can say anything, and its almost too exhausting to get the feedback.
At 71 years old, Walter has earned the right to ignore them.
Id love to do something very complex on screen, she says.
Im still ambitious to do certain things that I still havent done.
At 28, Walters life was plenty complex offscreen.
Her sister was pregnant, which was when she realised her own periods had stopped.
She was subsequently diagnosed with anorexia, though she credits a voracious commitment to work with pulling her through.
What do you remember of your life at 28?
Well, it was actually a turning point.
What kind of plays were you in at the time?
There werent many parts for women [then].
They were plucky little housewives and sentimental dying women.
They decided I should play the apprentice boy.
Id watched boys all my life because I wanted to be a boy when I was a kid.
What interested you in that role?
I have recently played some horrible posh people, but Ive also played some nice posh people.
What camp do you think Lady Caroline falls into?
Shes damaged, rather than cold and horrible.
And she was mostly brought up by her nanny, and life was pretty dull.
She also has a very, very, very small boredom threshold.
Shes not horrible nasty; shes enjoyable nasty.
So I want you to know I forgive you.
You mention briefly in your book that you were diagnosed with anorexia in your late 20s.
If you were to speak to 28-year-old Harriet now, would you recommend therapy to her?
I probably would, though I dont think anorexia is very easy to understand.
and I cant really, even now.
There are so many things going on.
And obviously the person I saw was not a psychologist.
And so his theory was buck up and eat something.
But I think I was on the brink of wanting to get out of it myself.
Ill tell you what got me out of it is work.
It was the same for me.
I remember my dad just being like, Youre going to have to get on with this.
We really ought to be honest with ourselves.
To do that over several years with a theatre company is quite hard stuff.
And in the end, youre longing for someone to say, Look, give yourself a break.
Did you want to be married at 28?
Oh, thats a good one.
I think Id only been asked to be married once in those times when I was about 20.
Those are all questions that I cant sit here and absolutely tell you I know the answer to.
It was always a bit more problematic than that.
And I know they say youve got to be honest with yourself.
I dont know how honest I was with myself.
But I knew I didnt want to marry and have his children.
And that in the end, I ended it.
I just wasnt ready.
Certainly in my late 20s, I was deferring, deferring, deferring.
And my older sister, she got pregnant when I was 28.
And it was around then that I went to see the doctor because I wasnt having periods.
And thats how the whole anorexic thing came out.
Well, how am I ever going to get pregnant?
So that must have been in my brain.
That’s oddly reassuring to hear as a 33-year-old who is terrified of marriage.
But Id probably be a terrible mother.
What do you think your 28-year-old self would think of yourself today?
She would not believe whats happened to my life.
I think I would think, Thank God youre still doing it.
How amazing that youve done what you want to do for 45, 50 years.
What else would I think?
I would just think Id still be ambitious to do certain things that I still havent done.
What are those ambitions that are still bothering you?
Well, I think Id love to do something very complex on screen.
And Im determined to show that we dont get less complex as we get older.
Was there anyone you knew in your late 20s whos gone on to have a career that you wanted?
Youre going to laugh, but I came to attention about the same time as Meryl Streep.
She was 30 or something when she hit the news.
Shed been doing fantastic theatre work up till then.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published onDec.
