Dame Helen Mirren says the 60s and 70s “were not a good time for women”

There are a lot of words that would be used when one is describing actress Dame Helen Mirren. She’s fierce, classy, iconic, and as she’s described in the latest interview with Marie Claire a “badass.”

Sitting down for a personal one and one interview Helen touches on many subjects including Feminism. Helen believes that any woman is a feminist, “They don’t realise it, because they’re living in a world feminism has, to a certain extent, created for them. Which is very exciting, because it’s entitled. That’s what I love about them. They’re entitled.”

Female advocacy Is something that Helen stands firmly behind saying, “I always used to say ‘put your energy into changing roles for women in life,’ because as night follows day, as women’s roles change in life, women’s roles will change on the screen. You’re banging your head against a brick wall, and a little bit of cement falls away, and I feel that the wall is just about to fall.”

Helen also covers “that” interview with Sir Michael Parkinson in 1975. At the time Helen was a 30-year-old actress was appearing on her first ever talk show to promote her upcoming role as Lady Macbeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Parky starts off the introduction of Helen by reading out some remarks from critics which called her a “sex queen” and “projecting sluttish eroticism.” A visibly annoyed Helen gave short answers to Parkinson before getting annoyed with the interviewer when he said Helen was “in quotes a serious actress” to which she replied while giggling mind you, “In quotes? What do you mean in quotes? How dare you.”

Speaking of that interview, Helen says “It was one of the very first interviews I ever did. I’m talking quite seriously about acting, but he had just decided to throw that mantle on me, I guess, and never actually listen to what I was actually saying. I think the ’60s and ’70s were not a good time for women. It should have been liberating, but actually, it wasn’t. It squeezed women.”

Do you agree with being feminist being entitled? Do you think Parkinson handled her interview wrong?