Kristin Scott Thomas discusses why she ‘never really’ considered herself a feminist

Kristin Scott Thomas says she “never really considered [herself] a feminist” until recently when she was made honorary president of the Women’s Economic Forum.

The actor says she “assumed” that inequality had been dealt with by generations before and was no longer an issue for women.

The 59-year-old told Town & Country magazine: “I was very surprised to be approached [for the WEF] because I’m not particularly famous for my activism and I’d never really considered myself a feminist.

“I really did assume that things had been dealt with by my parents’ generation – votes, bank accounts, equal pay – and having been brought up in a very female world, I wasn’t aware of quite how deep these things run and the unconscious bias.”

The Bafta-award winning actor said that she only started to identify as a feminist when she understood things that annoyed her were systematic, and not unique experiences.

“I started to read what they [the WEF] sent me and realised, ‘oh, so that’s why I shout at the radio when I’m in the car! That’s why I get cross!’ Because I am a secret feminist.

“I’m not just imagining it or being paranoid, this is actually happening.”

She also reflected on a time when a film director told her to be more “appealing” and said it made her angry. “I was so cross! That really rubbed me up the wrong way. It kicked something off in me,” she says.

“Why the hell should I be appealing? Why should I be pretty, and sweet, and kind, and nice, and have everybody love me? Why? I’m incredibly grumpy about lots and lots of things.”

The actor was praised after she made a cameo appearance in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s TV series Fleabag, giving a length monologue about the menopause.

She said: “I knew this was something that a lot of women were just longing to get out there, because I was too.

“What’s so clever about Phoebe is she articulates these really buried feelings – she expresses what we’ve all been thinking about for ages.”