I had been feeling a little rum. I didn't think it was anything serious because years ago I felt a lump and it was benign. I assumed this would be too. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, and I don't know what the future holds, if anything.

I'd done "Gosford Park," a film that Julian Fellowes had written that Robert Altman directed.

Theres a difference between solitude and loneliness

Try not to cry too much because it can be pretty heart-breaking and pretty hard.

I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone.

I feel now like a hinge between generations, which is strange. It just happened recently. I think it's because my daughter is so much like me at her age. I feel like I'm reliving my own mother's experience of raising me.

The last couple of years have been a write-off, though I'm beginning to feel like a person now. My energy is coming back.