Dame Helen Mirren tells Lorraine what she has missed most during lockdown

From Prima

Dame Helen Mirren has told the Lorraine show that she has missed drinking a cocktail in a bar and going to the theatre the most during lockdown, but has enjoyed the simplicity of home-life with her husband.

The Hollywood star told Lorraine Kelly, in a pre-recorded interview aired on the ITV show on Monday (17 August): "I miss sitting at a bar with a cocktail in my hand and the buzz of a bar around me. I just love that.

"And I hugely miss going to the theatre. I love, well I don't love doing theatre, I do theatre. I love going to the theatre as an audience, I miss that terribly."

The actress has been keeping herself busy at her home in the US with husband Taylor Hackford, as they have been cooking, exercising and learning Italian.

"It was fabulous just to be at home, talk about what we were going to have for dinner that night," she said. "I'm with my husband – I have to say, my life up to that point, I was constantly packing and unpacking and I never got the end of a tube of toothpaste.

"This is how I suddenly realised. My husband and I were in our house in America and I used up a whole tube of toothpaste, probably for the first time in my life."

She continued: "There was a lot of cooking going on, exercise, we learnt Italian, we had Italian lessons at night, the two of us. It was pretty cool, for me. For families with young children having to home school, oh my god, so, so difficult. On the other hand, kind of great for the kids to be with their parents to be at home, I don’t know?"

Lorraine then asked Helen about chasing a bear away from her garden during the lockdown period, at which she recalled: "I shouted at it. I said, 'Naughty bear! Naughty bear! What are you doing?' I was rather cross, I wish I hadn't shouted, 'Naughty bear' at him because I would have really enjoyed watching him for a while."

Helen also discussed her passion for gardening, but admitted that she was a "terrible gardener."

"I discovered gardening quite early in my life," she explained. "I am a terrible gardener, actually but I love it. I love reading gardening books. I’m fascinated by what kind of soil peonies need and the light a geranium needs in the day. It’s good for the mind and for understanding there is a different tempo..."

Helen stars in upcoming movie The One And Only Ivan. Andi Peters has temporarily replaced Lorraine Kelly as presenter on the breakfast show while Lorraine is on holiday.

Lorraine airs on ITV on weekdays.

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