Maggie dodged a fallout, out, out, on The Crown set
GILLIAN ANDERSON decided to stay in her own lane on set for The Crown... indicating that she, like Margaret Thatcher, was not for turning.
The US actress and her real-life partner, screenwriter Peter Morgan, laid down strict ground rules after she was cast as the Iron Lady on his Netflix hit The Crown.
They realised that to avoid any couple’s tiffs, they should stick resolutely to their own jobs.
The twice-divorced X-Files star, who has three children from her earlier relationships, admitted: ‘For our own sanity, and actually for the benefit of the relationship, we had very clear boundaries. I am not going to comment on the script, but you are not allowed to comment on the performance!’ Anderson, 52, says separating her life is easy, having brought up daughter Piper, 26, and sons Oscar, 14, and 12-year-old Felix.
‘I’m pretty good at compartmentalising in my life, period,’ she added. ‘I learnt that quite young, being a young mother in a really intense TV series where it was either full-on on-set, or I was in my trailer having to shut the door and no longer be that person, but be mum.’
In the fourth series of The Crown, which returns on November 15, Anderson clashes with Olivia Colman as the Queen. Relishing the opportunity to glam up for Harper’s Bazaar after Lady Thatcher’s power suits and pussycat bows, she described how she approached her role as the first female prime minister.
‘I had to get to a point where it’s nothing to do with my opinions of her policies, of her actions,’ she told the magazine. ‘It is only about her as a human being and her motivation as a politician and as a mother.’ With other big shows like The Fall and Sex Education under her belt, the actress explained why we don’t hear from her off-screen.
‘I have an opportunity as somebody in the public eye to draw attention to things, but I don’t comment, I don’t offer my opinion on social media on a regular basis, because it’s not my world,’ she added. ‘I’m an actor, I’m not a politician, I’m not a social worker.’ Read the full interview in the December issue of Harper’s Bazaar, on sale today.