Dame Kristin Scott Thomas has said that she is frustrated at the way women are treated as they get older.
The actress, 59, said that she is “fed up” at having to thank people when they say she has “still got it”.
Dame Kristin, whose career has spanned more than three decades, told the Radio Times that she is “super-grateful” to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for “articulating my own personal frustration with the way women are treated as they age.”
She starred in episode three of the second series of Waller-Bridge’s hit comedy Fleabag, in which her character Belinda Friers delivered a powerful speech about the struggles of being a woman, and hailing the freedom that comes with the menopause after years of being a “slave” to the menstrual cycle.
Dame Kristin told the magazine: “I’m fed up of having to say ‘thank you’ when someone says I’ve still got it.
“Ageing is a quality for women. We don’t just fade away. I don’t put up with any bullshit any more.”
She added: “I’ve never been happier.”
The Four Weddings and a Funeral star said that she was bored of being offered the same roles around a decade ago, but that things have improved over the past few years.
She said: “I was expected to play ‘hard but fragile’ in every film. I was busy with the theatre at the time, so I kept turning down those roles.
“Now young people are interested in me again because I’m six, seven years older.
“In fact, someone called me ‘dear’ in a shop the other day.”
She added: “I was wearing a knitted bonnet. It probably didn’t do me any favours.”
Dame Kristin will soon be seen in the upcoming film Military Wives, which tells the story of a group of women who start a choir while their partners are serving in Afghanistan.
The film is in cinemas from March 6.
Radio Times magazine is available now.