Actress taps into personal pain
Versailles’ Anna Brewster opens up about ‘heartbreak’ and her father’s stroke
Actress Anna Brewster thinks that traumatic experiences in real life can sometimes bleed into acting. Her role as the lusty mistress of King Louis XIV in the TV series “Versailles” is a prime example.
“I had a very big heartbreak two years ago, which actually helped to inform my work on Season 2,” she says, perching on the edge of her chair in a meeting room here. “It’s weird, I was very fragile at the time, and what I thought would be very difficult emotions to tap into were suddenly on the surface, very raw.”
The British-born Brewster plays Lady Montespan, one of Louis’s legions of mistresses who graced him with seven children and — through her wit and intelligence — became the most powerful woman in France. (The series — filmed in France and Canada — has been airing this summer on the Movie Network and is available in its entirety on that channel’s on-demand service.)
“That heartache changed my attitude toward life,” Brewster muses. “I’m more into freedom, independence. I think everything happens for a reason, so it’s not the end of the world. But also I know what real love was. I’ve been in love before, but this was real heartbreak,” says Brewster.
“I think maybe — it’s going to sound weird — but I think I became a bit more selfish. I don’t think that’s a bad thing because I’m very much, like, I would do anything for anyone. But I’ve become a bit more selfish in that I need to look after myself. I can’t make it all about someone else.”
Inordinately shy as a kid, Brewster experienced a family tragedy when she was 15. “My dad had a mild stroke. But when I was a child, I was very much Daddy’s girl. I idolized my father,” she says.
“And when it happened, I saw him so vulnerable, with fear in his eyes, and I realized at that point that my parents were human. And I think that informed me as a person as I get older, I’m not going to be this invincible person. There is a vulnerability there, and when I have children I need to make them understand that.”
Her father recovered, but he was a beloved teacher who could no longer teach because his hearing was affected. “Maybe, through my father, I realize we’re all vulnerable.”
Brewster was also 15 when she unintentionally landed her acting first job. “I got sent to an audition through my school,” she says, grasping her long brown hair in a knot and pushing it over her shoulder.
“And I don’t know what took over me that day, something clicked. And I went to the audition and got the part. It was for a film, and I started working. But I remember going back to school to visit … when I was about 20 — after my first job, other jobs came — and the teachers were like, ‘How the hell are you doing this? You’re unbearably shy.’ There must be something within me in that I like to be a different person,” she says.
Brewster performed for five years, but at 21, she stepped back. “So, I moved to London to go to university. I was studying fashion, and then I started modelling at the same time — just for money. And actually it went very well in England … I did it till I was about 28. I’m 31 now. I’m too old,” she says with a smile.
Brewster has overcome her heartbreak of two years ago and has a new sweetheart, Anatole Maggiar, who runs a gallery space in Paris where he oversees 26 artists.
“We met eight years ago in Paris in a club …. Then we didn’t talk for five years and I got this job on ‘Versailles.’ And I thought, ‘Who do I know who lives in Paris?’ I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, Anatole.’ So I texted him …. It took us six months. So he said, ‘I’m going to come meet you.’ So he came and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”