Are you healthy? I’ve been blessed with pretty strong stamina and healthy genes, so I’d call myself sensible. I’ve had regular mammograms ever since I found a lump in my breast when I was 30. Thankfully all was well.
How much sleep do you need? I’m not very good at going to sleep, and that’s probably my worst problem. I don’t need much more than seven and a half hours, but I probably get six. I take all my problems to bed with me and fret. I can’t switch off.
Have you ever smoked? Yes, for three years, from 17 to 20. I hated it, so it was quite easy to give up. Then, out of stupidity, I started drifting in and out of it again when I was in my 40s, after I had to act in something where I had to smoke. I had already stopped again when my partner, the actor Peter Blythe, died of lung cancer in 2004. He had also been a smoker but had given up, too. Now I think it’s got to be made to look stupid. It’s always the beautiful skinny actress that has a cigarette on screen, and that perpetuates the image that it’s cool. If the thick, ugly one smoked, then that might sort of send the message out a bit.
Have you ever spent a night in hospital? I was on stage about four years ago in Hampstead in London, when I suddenly collapsed and was taken to the nearby Royal Free with a stomach tumour. I’d had no idea that I had one, and luckily I was treated by one of the best guys in the field. The tumour was very rare and, to my relief, benign.
How do you relax? I read, I gossip, I do crosswords. I think chatting with friends is relaxing. I’ve picked them up all through my life – if you live long enough, you end up with quite a large circle.
Have you ever had therapy? I had bereavement counselling, and that was very helpful. I also have quite a few friends who have lost partners, and talking to them was good – I find that nobody else quite understands. Otherwise there’s a certain part of you that says: while you mustn’t block it out, you must also get on. I went back to work three months after Peter died. It was very important to give myself a structure.
Are you happy? Difficult to say. As long as I am still interested and curious I enjoy getting up in the morning, but I can’t say I have a happy smile on my face 24/7. It sounds soppy, but I was happiest with my partner.
Is sex important to you? Love is more important than sex. I don’t miss sex for sex’s sake; I miss everything that goes with it.
• Harriet Walter is currently appearing in Law & Order: UK on ITV1 and in the movie The Young Victoria
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