Q&A: Sadie Frost, actor

Born in London, Sadie Frost, 50, attended the Italia Conti Stage School. She went on to appear in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film Dracula and starred in Shopping with Jude Law, whom she later married. She recently co-founded a production company whose first feature film, Buttercup Bill, is released this weekend. She lives in London and has a son by her first husband, Gary Kemp, and three children by Law.

When were you happiest?
When there’s a big Sunday lunch and all my children are there.

What is your greatest fear?
Heights.

What is your earliest memory?
Stealing a packet of biscuits from the local corner shop in Primrose Hill, when I was three – not realising that there was such a thing as money.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
My mother, Mary Davidson, for having me at 16 – a child herself – and raising me with very little.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Anxiety.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Unreliability.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
When I tried to keep up with the kids skiing in Austria, and got snow-mobiled off the mountain.

When did you last cry, and why?
In the last year, when I realised that I didn’t want to be in the relationship that I was in.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A dancer or an actor.

Who would play you in the film of your life?
Vicky McClure, a wonderful actor.

What is your favourite word?
Serenity.

What is your most treasured possession?
An intimate letter that my father, David Vaughan, wrote to me before he died, 12 years ago. I have a shrine to him that reads, “I Love You Daddy”, with the letter framed and photos of me and him.

What makes you unhappy?
I used to get very unhappy that I didn’t have a normal relationship and wasn’t in a traditional family, but I have overcome that. I am enjoying being free.

Which book changed your life?
Lord Of The Flies. It made me realise how savage human nature can be.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?
People have said I am crazy or nuts, rather than slightly eccentric.

To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?
To my father, for not understanding what he was going through when he was sick with hepatitis C.

Have you ever said ‘I love you’ and not meant it?
Possibly.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Vivien Leigh, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn and Judy Garland.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Being a London girl, “Do you know what I mean?” and “Like”.

What keeps you awake at night?
Eight years ago, I didn’t sleep for more than two hours a night and was very skinny. I went to a sleep clinic, and learned techniques to switch my mind off.

What song would you like played at your funeral?
Come Together, by The Beatles.