Helen Mirren isn't just a national treasure for Britain - she's a global treasure. The actress has had a career that frankly boggles the mind, seemingly never taking a vacation, always working on something new - from Shakespeare to Fast and Furious movies.

She recently sat down to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss her illustrious career, which now spans more than half a century.

The interviewer happened to ask Mirren about one particularly uncomfortable interview early on in her career - one with BBC host Michael Parkinson in 1975, in which he boldly asked if her "physical attributes" were (somehow) detracting from her skills as an actress.

Mirren commented that watching that interview feels "like an SNL sketch" now.

"Sexuality used to be disempowering. Now I think maybe it's empowering."

"I used to think of [the constant sexualization] as a sort of, a rather uncomfortable backpack that I was having to carry with me. But it was something I realized quite early on that I just had to deal with, had to accept and sort of carry on regardless. To not allow it to affect me. It wasn't altogether detrimental - it was valuable in some ways. But, at the same time, it wasn't really me. It was me in the sense that I looked the way I looked, and some people saw that in me."

Mirren's commentary mirrors that of hundreds of female actresses and performers who were considered the most attractive of their time - that their image wasn't really theirs, that it was molded by the people watching them, and there was nothing they could do.

"As I got older, I started to quite enjoy it, to play with my image. But when I was younger, it was really a pain in the butt, quite honestly. But I always said to myself: It's the work that counts. I think that's partly why, early in my career, I really concentrated on becoming, for lack of a better word, a classical actress. It's the work that counts, so keep doing that sort of difficult, challenging work, and this other thing will hopefully drop away. "

As it does many other women, Mirren is still annoyed by the necessity of using sexuality as currency for women, expecially in her business - though she relishes the fact that it's no longer a factor for her.

"Now, absolutely. I love to dress up - it's fine. Now it's absolutely fine. Because, you know, I'm much, much, much older. When you're a young woman, especially in that era, being sexualized was the opposite of what I wanted. That or the opposite: "Oh, you're not sexy at all." The whole attitude was just paralyzing. And absolutely enraging."

And, more importantly, she feels hopeful that actresses coming up now will no longer have to deal with the same struggle.

"It's absolutely different [for young actresses] now. There are elements of it still, but I think - and I might be wrong about this - but I think young women have claimed that territory, their sexuality, for themselves. They've got the chins up about it, they don't have to substitute for it or feel embarrassed about it. Sexuality used to be disempowering. Now I think maybe it's empowering."

You can read the rest of what Mirren had to say about her incredible career in the full article here.

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