As one of Britain’s most respected acting couples, they have had their fair share of individual career success.
But now, Keeley Hawes has called out the double standards that see her criticised for being on television too much while actors like husband Matthew Macfadyen get a pass.
The British actress, 48, who plays Prince Andrew’s former private secretary Amanda Thirsk in Netflix’s Scoop, has said actresses get called out for being over-exposed more often than actors do.
‘There are many more male actors who have worked much more,’ she told Stylist magazine.
‘And I find that male actors are rarely called out for working too much, whereas with female actors it’s like, “Here she is again!”
, Keeley Hawes has called out the double standards that see her criticised for being on television too much while actors like husband Matthew Macfadyen get a pass
Ms Hawes has been married to Succession star Macfadyen, 49, since 2004 and the couple are parents to children Maggie, 19, and Ralph, 17
‘That’s not just me specifically; I’ve seen it happen with others too. You just don’t get that with male actors.’
She said there is still ‘further to go’ when it comes to gender equality in the industry, but that it’s ‘a million miles away from where it used to be.’
Remaining ‘positive,’ she said that ‘more execs and decision-makers are female, so that helps with that change too.’
But the London-born actress, who rose to fame in Spooks before landing roles in Line of Duty and The Bodyguard, said that she was put in ‘horrendous’ situations in the 1990s when she had to pose in lingerie for magazine shoots.
‘I would turn up to a shoot to publicise a costume drama and there would just be a rail of lingerie,’ she said.
‘You wouldn’t have a press person; there was no one there but 20-year-old Keeley, who didn’t know how these things worked.
‘And you would be put in a hotel room, sometimes with a male photographer on your own, not even with hair and make-up in the same room.’
She said it was ‘deeply uncomfortable’ but that was the ‘expectation of what we did’ and was the publicist’s job to ‘get you into as many things as possible and at that time that meant magazines like Loaded.’
The British actress, 48, who plays Prince Andrew’s former private secretary Amanda Thirsk in Netflix ‘s Scoop, has said actresses get called out for being over-exposed
But the London-born actress, who rose to fame in Spooks (pictured) before landing roles in Line of Duty and The Bodyguard, said that she was put in ‘horrendous’ situations in the 1990s when she had to pose in lingerie for magazine shoots
She added: ‘It makes me feel horrendous, really horrendous. I feel for myself.
‘We are so well protected now; it’s a different world, thank God, but it was just what we were expected to do and I didn’t really think anything of it.’
Ms Hawes has been married to Succession star Macfadyen, 49, since 2004 and the couple are parents to children Maggie, 19, and Ralph, 17. The actress is also mother to son Myles, 24, from her previous marriage to Spencer McCallum.
She said the couple always try to be ‘strict’ with their work schedules so one of them is always at home, although nowadays they have to ‘wrangle’ the children to spend time with them.
‘We’re just the same as anyone else, with two people in a relationship when you’re both working,’ she said.
‘Everybody has those struggles, and of course there are moments when you’re less in control than others.’
She added: ‘I’m now wrangling with them so they make time to see us! It’s non-stop negotiations as parents, it’s just that the negotiations are different.’
Ms Hawes said that her plan for the future is finding ‘more time’ to spend with her husband now they are able to, and seeing her ‘handful’ of friends.
She added: ‘I feel incredibly lucky and very satisfied. I’ve done lots of things that I questioned if I could ever do.
‘I’ve never been so full of confidence that I’ve thought ‘I can do that’ about everything. So, at the time I might not have known I was achieving a life goal, but I think perhaps I was and I did.’
