Helen Mirren has accepted death is a part of life but she’s not sure what happens when people die.
In an interview with the i newspaper, The Leisure Seeker actress was quizzed about her views on the prospect of her death.
She said: “[Death is] as much a part of life as anything else.”
Insisting that death shouldn’t be ignored, the star went on: “We are all headed in that direction, sorry to tell you! It’s gonna happen.
“So one might as well confront it, and what better time to confront it than the latter part of your life?”
The Elizabeth I actress also spoke about her awareness that death was a real possibility at all stages of life.
“As you travel through life, you do realise that you lose friends and colleagues and death becomes a part of your life and that happens at every age,” she continued.
“It’s not just what happens to older people.”
Meanwhile, Dame Helen also reflected on the amount of privacy that existed in Hollywood, of which she claimed there was minimal.
“There used to be an understanding of privacy,” she said. “There is no understanding of privacy now.”
“Privacy is completely gone.”
The star expanded on her point as she compared modern day nude scenes to those of the past.
Hinting that social media and the internet could be to blame, she said: “Random people taking photos, e-mails being hacked, people doing screen grabs… it used to be if you did a nude scene, for example, closed set, no photography.
“Now they [take] a screen shot from the movie and put it on the internet, for everybody to see.”
The Calendar Girls actress, who has been decorated with an accolade of awards over the years including the prestigious Triple Crown of Acting gong, has gone topless for some films in the past.
Dame Helen has previously spilled that she felt “embarrassed and mortified” about performing in the scenes.
Explaining that she had agreed to appear in the scenes as it was part of the script, she said: “You either agree to the script or you don’t.
“And if you have agreed to the rest of it, then you have agreed to that.”
Revealing how she marked a difference between love and nude scenes, she continued: “A nude scene is something else, and my approach to it was I am embarrassed and mortified but I want to liberate myself.
“It is never necessary really unless you are doing a movie about nudism. It is always gratuitous.”
