‘My Job Makes Me Aware Of My Own Mortality’

I am enchanted by butterflies, and being among them is incredibly therapeutic. They remind me of heady summers growing up in Dorset and running around my parents’ garden. They [the actors Joanna David and Edward Fox] allowed it to grow wild and uncultivated. I used to chase butterflies and I was obsessed with the Flower Fairies books.

When I married [the actor, Jared Harris] in 2005, we released rare butterflies at our wedding. They had been bred for us by the lepidopterist Clive Farrell, who came up with the idea for Butterfly World. His nursery houses are full of butterflies that cloud around your head. I’m overwhelmed by his love and care for them. They’re a barometer of the environment and levels of pollution, they chart what’s happening.

I wish I could say I had a fitness regime, but in London I just can’t make myself exercise. When I lived in LA, fitness and going to the gym were part of everyday life. But now with such long hours at work, from 6am until 8pm, the last thing I want to do is jump on the treadmill.

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