You hit a certain age and - especially because of TV - the young cooks coming up say 'You're a sellout because you're doing something other than what you should be doing.' 'Top Chef' is a double-edged sword for me: There's a whole group of people who will not come to the restaurants because they assume I'm not in them anymore all I do is TV.

I love physical kinds of comedy and getting down and dirty and doing stunts. When I was growing up I was always getting into fights with guys and usually punching out boys my age because I was a lot bigger and tougher. So I'm naturally accustomed to putting myself into the headspace of a girl who can take care of herself.

This is what I asked for and in this day and age that's what actually goes on. But what hurts me the most is that I work just as hard as any other actress around my age like Scarlett Johansson but I just don't get the opportunities that they get because people are so distracted by the mess that I created in my life.

I am happy being able to play roles with people my age because once you do something really mature there is no turning back.

What I really tried to do with Helen was make her show this sad side of her. She was married off at 16 was so young and living in this castle that can't leave because of how she looks and married to a man she hates and three times her age.

My view is pensioners don't have the one option that people of working age have. They can't really increase their income because they are no longer able to work.

It's the golden age of French cinema again but it's because Sarkozy had the guts to push through copyright law.

Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn't like what a woman her age is offered. That's a real double standard. You get Sean Connery who gets older and older still playing opposite young ladies but it doesn't work the other way around.

It's not the normal way to look at things but I experienced death at a really young age and because of that it's been part of my mental landscape that death is really very possible.

Whoever fleeing marriage and the sorrows that women cause does not wish to wed comes to a deadly old age.