It wasn't my destiny to have kids, says Dame Helen Mirren

In the past, the Oscar-winning actress has insisted that motherhood holds no interest for her and said she has "no maternal instinct". u00a0But in an interview the 67-year-old actress admitted that she always expected to be a mother.

Dame Helen Mirren

"It was not my destiny. I kept thinking it would be, waiting for it to happen, but I never did, and I didn't care what people thought," the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

Mirren has been in a relationship with Taylor Hackford, the American film director, since her 40s and married him in 1997. She is his third wife and he has two children from previous marriages.

She said that she "loves children" and enjoys being a stepmother. u00a0She told British Vogue magazine that it was more men than women who have questioned her about not having children.

"Women never gave me a hard time, anyway, it was only boring old men. And whenever they went ‘What? No children? Well, you'd better get on with it, old girl,' I'd say ‘No! F--- off!'" she said.

She said that women should not be made to feel there is something wrong with them if they do not have children. u00a0