Secrets and Guys ; Director Sir Peter Hall Said She Was 'a Goer', but Actress Brenda Blethyn has Been in Love with the Same Man for 26 Years. She Tells Moira Petty Why She Wants to Give Up the Bright Lights of Broadway and Go Off with Him in a Camper Van

Daily Mail › September 11, 2004

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Summary

Brenda Blethyn was 50 when she became a Hollywood star eight years ago with only her third film, Secrets Lies. It won her nine awards and an Oscar nomination, and she walked up the red carpet in a lime-green Armani dress and Pounds 2 million worth of yellow diamonds, borrowed, of course. 'It was a surprise at the time,' she says. 'I went into acting to work in the theatre, not film or TV.' If her life goes according to plan, Blethyn, who received an OBE last year, will soon be turning her back on this heady - though comparatively brief - fame. For, next year, she hopes to give up acting altogether to be with her long-term partner, set designer Michael Mayhew, full time. By then, they will probably be married, she says, and if she can persuade him to retire, too, they will tour the world in a camper van.

'I shocked myself yesterday by the realisation of all the roles I've had.

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Secrets and Guys ; Director Sir Peter Hall Said She Was 'a Goer', but Actress Brenda Blethyn has Been in Love with the Same Man for 26 Years. She Tells Moira Petty Why She Wants to Give Up the Bright Lights of Broadway and Go Off with Him in a Camper Van

I've gone from one to another. So I thought, "Why don't I retire?"

What's wrong with that? It would be nice to read a book, to potter about.

Financially, we are fine. I'm sensible with money and with what's left I am generous and a little bit frivolous.

Economic stability is important to me. I don't borrow money. I can't bear being in debt. As soon as I could, I paid off my mortgage.' She makes both the marriage and retirement announcements in the low-key, non-actressy manner that is her trademark - ordinariness. 'I just want to be with Michael all the time,' she s...

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