Everything has changed. An interview has become such a confrontational thing. It makes you very defensive.

I was asked to be in Vogue but I said no. I didn't want to advertise make-up. I didn't want to be seen as a sex symbol.

I maintain the rather old-fashioned view that this is my work and it's in the public arena, but that doesn't entitle everyone to know what happened at home before coming here.

Exposure makes you famous, not just good work. Famous is being plastered everywhere.

You can be revered for all sorts of qualities, but to be truly charismatic is rare. Elizabeth Taylor was, for me, one of those rarities.

I don't want three million people digesting my private life over their cornflakes.

I used to suffer from excessive pride. Well, I got over that one.