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I’M PROUD OF MY BODY

Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks on her voluptuous curves – and why she’s decided she’ll never have children

- Gabrielle Donnelly

Mad Men star Christina Hendricks says that curvy women should be celebrated – and reveals why she chose not to have children

At a time when, for women, thin is the way to be in, and bony clavicles are a cause for celebratio­n, Christina Hendricks is a breath of fresh air. She sashays into the room like a va-va-voom 1950s pin-up, her curves poured into a flesh-hugging cocoa-brown dress, her legs showcased by strappy scarlet stilettos.

The message is plain. Joan Holloway, the man-eating office manager in 60s-set advertisin­g drama Mad Men may be relegated to fond memories and reruns, but nearly two years after the show that made her name ended, the actress who played her is still strutting her voluptuous stuff.

‘I was born with this figure,’ shrugs Christina. ‘And I’m very proud of it. I think it should be celebrated, and I love fashion so I try to wear clothes that will make me look good. I don’t actually think about showing it or not showing it – I just try to choose a beautiful dress that flatters me. I certainly don’t not wear something because of my figure. Having said that, I hope I’m known for other things too!’

That famous hourglass shape certainly didn’t hurt in her new role this Christmas. She plays Diane, the object of lust for Billy Bob Thornton’s nightmare Santa in Bad Santa 2, the bawdy follow-up to the 2003 hit produced by the Coen Brothers. In the original Billy Bob played thief Willie Soke, an alcoholic who takes on department store Santa jobs so he can rob the shops at night. The sequel sees him team up with his mother, played by Kathy Bates, to fleece a homeless charity.

And that’s where Christina comes in. ‘Diane’s a recovering alcoholic, a do-gooder who’s decided to work for the homeless charity,’ she says. ‘And when she meets Billy Bob’s character she thinks she can transform him – which is one of her good deeds that goes wrong.’

True to its predecesso­r the film includes plenty of joyously non- PC jokes and some eyebrow-raising love scenes – and Christina says she had the time of her life making it. ‘I was laughing out loud,’ she says. ‘It’s the way Billy Bob plays the character, with such dry humour and such realism and yet you can’t believe the things that are coming out of his mouth. You just have to accept that these are despicable people doing things you’d never do.

‘What I love is the absurdity of it, yet it’s played almost like a drama. So when these absurd things happen they catch you off guard. We shot it in Montreal in the winter, which was definitely helpful. Our poor crew actually had icicles on their eyelashes!’

And the love scenes? ‘They made them easy for me,’ she says. ‘I mean, those scenes are never natural, and on my first day at work we were shooting a scene where Billy Bob and I make love at a Christmas tree sale, so it was, “Hi, nice to meet you. Can I put my leg here?” Trust me, it was a great ice-breaker!’

It was, of course, Mad Men that brought her to stardom. A bit-part actress since her early 20s, Christina was 32 when she won the role that would change her life. ‘I was one of the people who’d been plugging away and feeling frustrated because there was so much competitio­n out there that it was tough even to get someone’s at tention. My l i fe changed entirely when Mad Men came along because it meant that for once in my career I could walk into a room and have people know who I was. People associate me with the 1960s now because of it.’

After seven series and 92 episodes, she admits she was ready to say goodbye to Joan when filming ended in 2014. ‘Joan doesn’t exist any more,’ she says firmly. But while the show lasted she thoroughly enjoyed it. ‘It was very nice to know I was going back to a certain place every time – I knew the crew, I knew the cast, the set was only five minutes from my house and I was very comfortabl­e there. I never got tired of being on that amazing set. Everything was so beautifull­y done to get the period detail right. Every time I Christina and (far left) on

Mad Men with Jon Hamm turned around there was something interestin­g to look at – on a desk or a cabinet. It was wonderfull­y written too. I feel the writing raised the bar on what we can all expect to see on television. I feel deeply proud of having been part of that.

‘I think one reason people responded to the show was because it was sexy and people were getting away with bad behaviour. I think the combinatio­n gave it an element of fantasy that was enticing. I got a strange fan letter once where a woman wrote to me and said she identified with my character because she was sleeping with her boss like Joan was, I thought, “Oh my gosh, I should not be privy to this informatio­n!”’

She’s also now content in her personal life. In October 2009 she marr ied actor Geoff rey Arend, best known as Matt Mahoney in political drama Madam Secretary. They made a conscious decision not to have children and Christina insists they could not be happier. ‘ It’s not a political choice, it’s a choice we made for ourselves and it’s working for us. My friends would say I’m incredibly maternal, but motherhood is just not for me. I once had a scene with a baby on Mad Men and afterwards the producer said, “Either your clock is ticking or you’re a great actress.” I said, “I’m a great actress!”’

She admits that, at 41, she’s become conscious of the approach of middle age. ‘I never really thought about age before but suddenly I thought, “Oh! I’m 40 now.” I’ve become more conscious of taking care of myself. I’ve always liked good, natural food, so that part’s easy for me. But I’ve started to be more aware of things like exercise, doing sit-ups or hand weights while I’m watching TV, that sort of thing.’

Which is not to say the exercise and diet won’t go out of the window when Christmas comes around. ‘It’s a time to get cosy in front of the fire. My husband and I do a fairly traditiona­l American family Christmas, with his family one year and my family the next – we do a turkey and to me the stuffing is always the star of the show. I really like the smells, the warmth, everything. I cook a lot, I like to knit, I like to have the warm, snuggly feeling of being close with family and friends. We all work so hard all year that this is the break when we just rest and enjoy being together.’

And not a bad Santa in sight.

‘Friends would say I’m maternal, but motherhood’s not for me’

Bad Santa 2 is in cinemas now.

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