I'll tell you how it happened. The phone rang. Paul, my agent, goes, 'Would you like to play Meryl Streep's?' I said, 'Yeeees! I'll do it, whatever it is.' He said, 'It's Mamma Mia!.' I said, 'Oh no, which character? The fat friend?

I do find it therapeutic, writing about stuff that was frightening and painful as a child, and managing to see it from an adult's point of view. To get it out of the closet onto paper, metaphorically speaking, is therapeutic.

It's very strong after the birth. It's extraordinary. You can't watch anything to do with kids being harmed.

I'm massively talented, and very, very beautiful in person; the public don't really realise that.

There were people asking 'Can women be funny?' People still ask that. It's like asking: 'Can women breathe in and out?'

In order to be creative you have to be allowed to fail.

My grandmother lived with us for a short time while I was a child. Old people tend to be slightly more eccentric - they can behave the way they want.