The Heat Interview- Anna Friel

Anna Friel is the ultimate girl next door but there’s nothing ordinary about her. With her celebrity exes, Hollywood career and new mate Madonna, she tells Simon Gage all about her A-list life.

“Are we after some teas and coffees ?” asks the waitress in the Covent Garden restaurant where Anna Friel is sitting looking truly beautiful, practically make-up free and her hair in ringlets.

“I’ll have a glass of wine please”, says Anna.

Hooray! She is as much fun as they say “One glass does no harm does it ?”, she protests, like anyone’s arguing. “What time is it anyway ? It is late afternoon”.

She reads from the wine list in an immaculate French accent (her father was a French teacher and made her do all the talking during summer holidays in France) and settles on a Sauvignon.

“Two glasses of Sauvignon?” asks the waitress. We order a bottle. While we wait for it to arrive, Anna starts telling us about how she gave up drinking for a month as an aid to giving up smoking. “I’m still hacking up a whole load of crap,” she laughs. “Very glamorous”.

Glamorous or not, Anna Friel has certainly pulled it off like no other soap star before. Since her lesbian snog as Beth Jordache in Brookside, Anna’s gone on to achieve major international credibility with proper films to her name, highly-acclaimed stints in the West End and on Broadway (with the likes of Jack Nicholson lusting after her) and a serious, grown-up actor boyfriend in the shape of David Thewlis.

She’s a favourite with the tabloids too. Before David, Anna went out with Darren Day (who unceremoniously dumped her for Tracy Shaw) and Robbie Williams. She also used to be part of the Primrose Hill Brat Pack and hung out with the likes of Kate Moss. More recently, she was pictured looking worse for wear at the premiere of War Bride last year, passionately locking lips with a female friend.

Now Anna’s back on British soil, starring in Watermelon, a one-off romantic comedy based on Marian Keyes’ popular chick-lit novel. But why has the actress returned to the small screen ? And why, for the last four years, has she refused to be interviewed by Heat ?

After going to Hollywood isn’t it a bit of step down to be back on the television over here again ?

Well, it’s not like you say “Right I’m going to live in America and be in Hollywood”. There are so few British movies made, that’s why a lot of people go out there. But for me, I think it’s been satisfactory to mix television, theatre and film. There were things offered, but I didn’t like the stuff, so I came back. I live here.

Where did you meet David?

On a plane on the way to Cannes about six years ago. And I think I bumped into him at an Oasis concert two years after, and then about three years after Cannes, we went out for dinner with some mutual friends of ours, these guys from Natural Nylon (the company Jude Law, Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller set up). We got on and it went from there.

Was it “Hello tiger” when you first met ?

I just really enjoyed talking to him and then we went, “God we get on and there’s no effort”. He’s a sweetie.

Do you embarrass him?

In little ways, yeah, but I can’t tell you how! Talking about his nether regions to my mates embarrasses him.

What about when he sees your picture in the paper having a merry old time?

[The wine arrives] You can start your article now “We sat down and Anna had a whole bottle of white wine!”. Better than “She ordered some water and a lettuce leaf”.

You were giddy as a kipper at the premiere of The War Bride weren’t you ?

I wasn’t giddy as a kipper ! They get a picture and they want to be able to use it. That was the last of my smoking days, and it was at the Canadian Embassy so I said “OK, I’m going to stand outside and have a fag,” but I didn’t know there’d be all the press standing outside.

And the pictures of you snogging some girl?

I wasn’t snogging. Come here. [She kisses me]. I just went like that, and they paused it there. I don’t make a habit of snogging girls. [Laughing]. Not in public.

You’ve never snogged girls?

When I was younger , yeah. I snogged one girl, practising with my friend when I was a kid.

So you’ve never snogged a girl for real ?

[Pause] No

You liar!

[Pause]

Why won’t you tell me?

No I haven’t . I haven’t snogged a girl.

What was the illness you had recently?

I had an ovarian cyst that burst. They took me in and they did a scan and my stomach was virtually full of blood. So I had transfusions and was ill for about two weeks.

Doesn’t this mean you have to have a baby soon or something?

Well, they found out that I had something called endometriosis, it’s when the lining of your womb can grow out and onto your Fallopian tubes. They said it’d be sensible to have children soon, but I think I won’t start doing that until I’m 30 anyway. Any time I talk about David, its always “Are you getting married? Are you having children now?” I’m 26 !

So are you getting married? Are you having children now ?

Not yet. You don’t need to change what’s already very happy and working.

But one day you’d like to do the whole thing?

Hopefully. Not in a meringue, but I’d like to that one day.

Do you still hand out with Meg and Sadie and all that lot?

Our paths haven’t crossed for a while now. We used to be always together, and then I went to New York and was there for nine months, and I came back and we just kind of separated. I don’t know why – there was never an argument or anything.

How come it’s taken you so long to do Heat?

I buy it, I like it – as long as it’s not me you’re talking about !

Like what?

I get a bit scared because I think, “Oh God, it’s going to be Darren, Robbie..>”

It is going to be Darren, Robbie….

See! I don’t know what to say about Darren Day. I met him at a wedding on Saturday.

Are you still cool with him?

I’ve not seen him for ages. I was just like “Hello, how are you?” I was one of three ex-girlfriends at the party !

We love that story about your dad walking in on you two having it off…

Darren actually pulled me up on that. He said “I can’t believe you said that”. I was like, “Let’s really not even get into that after all the things you’ve said!”. It was very polite: “This is David”, “Nice to meet you”, “Bye”.

It all ended pretty messily with him…

We’d been together for two and a half years, and it was a really awful ending because I found out he was seeing another girl through the press, and I was very upset for a long time. But it was seven years ago. He was my first love really, and it was his house so I moved out, I found my own place – he’s still got all my things. But then within about a year, I found out I was actually better off anyway.

I heard you went out with Robbie for four months and then he went into rehab…

I was about three months later. We split up and then he was quite ill. I didn’t know. I think an addict can hide things a lot. The time we spent together wasn’t like that. We went to the theatre on our first date. It was a long time ago, but he’s a sweet guy – very talented and lovely.

You’ve said that you and David slept together on the first night that you went out.

We slept in the same room, we didn’t have sex.

Why not?

I don’t know. We didn’t want to on the first night [Laughing]. We did the second. The first night we woke up with the house on fire. I think we’d probably consumed too much wine the night before and we’d left a candle burning. It was in a plant display, so it kind of set the plant alight, and we just caught it. We were going “Can you smell that?” and the whole room was full of black smoke. We went into the lounge and the whole mirror was about to go up. So it was a fiery start to a fiery relationship.

It’s not really fiery is it?

No, it’s very settling.

I bet David can’t believe his luck, can he ?

You flatterer.

He’s much older, isn’t he?

He’s 39 and I’m 26, so it’s quite an age difference but we don’t allow it to be an issue. Whether it will be in the future, I don’t know. I hope not.

Is it true you’re big friends with Madonna?

We hung out in New York and that was it. She wanted to take over a part in the Broadway play I was doing, and she invited me round to her house for tea. It felt quite funny – we sat and had tea together from a teapot, and she was really nice. Then we hung out a few nights, we’ve got a few mutual friends.

And doesn’t Dustin Hoffman call you when he’s in town?

He does. Dustin was producing a film I did in America, and he called me up. He’s one of the coolest men I’ve ever met/ I love him massively. He’s good friends with both me and David.

How did you end up being friends with Dustin Hoffman?

I met him once at The Bafta, and he’s like [American drawl] “Anna”. I said “Dustin, how are you doing?”. He’s like “Come on we’re out”. So we went out for the whole two weeks he was here, and then we went and stayed with his daughter for three weeks in America. He’s just very down-to-earth. We hang out and he’s my mate. There are very few people I’ve met where I’ve just gone “Oh my God”, and it’s usually because they’re so beautiful, you don’t know what to say.

Who else is beautiful?

Brad Pitt. I had to audition with him for something and he was taking my picture. I was going, “Oh no!”. But then by the end of the day, it was like “You’re just another guy, you’re cool”.

He’s got a very small nose though, which makes you wonder….

Wonder what?

What else is small….

Ooh, is nose something to do with it?

David’s got a big nose!

[Laughing] Watch Total Eclipse (saucy drama starring David Thewlis) and you’ll see that for yourself.

So, what’s your take on the whole Jude and Sadie business?

Which part? I used to spend a lot of time with them and they were a very, very great family, brilliant with the children. He was a great dad.

Do you think they’ll split up?

I don’t know, it’s not looking too good, but I hope for their sake they manage to sort it out. It’s so difficult in this business when you’re away so much, it’s just not natural. And when children are involved, it’s near-impossible to maintain some kind of real, solid foundation. So I hope for them they sort it out, but I don’t know.

Is there a trick to it? You and David manage it.

We’re doing well so far – I don’t want to say anything and end up looking a moron. You have to have real, proper, true conversations about your feelings, so you don’t come back to a stranger.

That’s the one nice thing: if you’ve been in a long relationship and you come back after three months, it’s like, “Phwaor!”

Yeah. Phwoooaaarr! Especially when he’s got a very big nose.

-Watermelon is on ITV in mid-April.