‘It felt like I was dying’ – actress tells of split from Scots star McAvoy
SHAMELESS star Anne-Marie Duff will today admit how she felt she ‘might die’ during the collapse of her ten-year marriage to Scots X-Men star James McAvoy.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs the actress, 47, reveals that the very public end of the relationship had taught her just how resilient she could be.
She said: ‘I have been through a lot, certainly the last few years. It’s about doing the best that you can. I am really interested in several things, one is the fact that we, as a species, get our faces out of the dirt and try to feel the sun on them.
‘I try to do that. I go OK, this is awful, I feel like I may die, however, I won’t because there is more of me than I ever imagined there could be.
‘I look at what people go through in other scenarios that are much harder than mine.
‘What are you going to do? Get your face out of the dirt and try to feel the sun on it.’ Duff and Glasgow-born McAvoy, 38 – who met while playing lovers Fiona Gallagher and Steve McBride in Channel 4’s hit drama Shameless – married at a low-key ceremony in 2006.
Their divorce ten years later took many by surprise. The couple remain good friends and still share a North London home whenever possible so they can give their eight-year-old son, Brendan, a sense of normality.
Choosing Nick Cave’s Love Letter as one of her Desert Island Discs, the star hints that she and McAvoy may have grown closer towards the end of the marriage.
In a candid interview Duff, who is playing Lady Macbeth at The National Theatre, also revealed she had fallen victim to the sexual harassment culture in Hollywood.
She said: ‘I have had quite a few experiences in my early career that would curl your toes.’
Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 11.15am and will be repeated on Friday at 9am.
‘We try to feel the sun on our faces’