Actress Joanne Froggatt, who plays the lovable lady's maid Anna Bates in Downton Abbey became very emotional when she won her first Golden Globe award as Best Supporting Actress, saying that her win is "a big responsibility."
"This is a big responsibility," she said. "Yes it's a fictional character but maybe people watching at home had been through similar experiences. My worst fear was for people to watch and feel that I wasn't honest."
The shocking rape storyline in Downton Abbey's season four cinched Froggatt's win, and the actress recalled the steps she took in order to give a raw and honest portrayal.
Froggatt said that when she learned Anna will be raped, she researched heavily on how the working class women of the 1920s handled sexual assaults. She even questioned the show's historical adviser on whether it is right or not that Anna kept things to herself, but the show insisted that working class women of that time would probably have remained tight-lipped about the crime.
"My first reaction to the story line was that I really wanted her to tell Bates, her husband, what she had been through. But women from a working class background didn't have any rights. Their rights were based on their reputation," she said.
The actress admitted that it took a while to "get my head around what it meant to be a working-class woman in the 1920s."
Froggatt also shared that she received letters from women who were victims of rape and that she was moved deeply by their words. "They are the most special letters I have ever received in my life. It was incredibly touching to me that these women were able to be so candid with me and trust me with their stories. It's something very removed and different from what I normally do for a living," she said.
"One woman summed up the thoughts of many by saying she wasn't sure why she'd written but she just felt in some way she wanted to be heard. I'd like to say, I heard you and I hope saying this so publicly in some way means you feel the world hears you," Froggatt added.
