The 'Sexist' 1975 Helen Mirren Interview
An infamous 1975 interview between Helen Mirren and journalist Michael Parkinson is breaking the internet once again and to be honest, this is quiet uncomfortable to watch. Mirren then in her late 20s keeps her cool despite a line of sexist questions from Parkinsons.
Parkinsons begins by introducing this "rising star of the theater" as a "sex queen" described by critics as an “amorous boa constrictor” who projects “sluttish eroticism.”
Within a minute into the interviw Parkinson tells Mirren that “you are, in quotes, a serious actress ...”
“In quotes? What do you mean, in quotes? How dare you,” she responds.
Parkinson then asks Mirren if her “equipment” — her breasts — hinder her in her acting.
“I’d like you to explain what you mean by my equipment ... in great detail,” she retorts. “Come on, spit it out.”
“Serious actresses can’t have big bosoms, is that what you mean?”
While Parkinson argues that big breasts could detract from a performance, Mirren suggests that she hopes any performance can overcome such a distraction — and from such “boring questions.”
“Boring questions?” Parkinson asks, apparently surprised.
“Pretty boring, in the end, yeah,” she says.
30 years later Mirren sits down on camera with Parkinson once more — and in their 2006 rematch, she tells the talk show host that she’d “hated” him first time around.
“I thought you were a sexist person for mentioning my breasts, and also you wouldn’t actually say the word ‘breasts,’” she scolded him.
text by Donna Williams