Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Film

Samantha Morton: There's a misconception kids in care don't know love

The actress said the state was useless, but 'certain individuals' made her feel loved and supported

Actress Samantha Morton has insisted the perception that kids in care always grow up without love is nonsense.

The Oscar-nominated In America star, who was in care before being moved to a homeless hostel at 16, told The Big Issue: “The state were no help to me but I did feel love and support by certain individuals who were trying to do their best for me. So I always had hope.

“Sometimes all you need to turn a child’s life around is one person who notices, who cares, who goes the extra mile.

“At 16 I was living in a homeless hostel in Nottingham – it was called an independence unit but basically it was a dumping ground for kids who had to leave care. We were just forgotten about really, with no support or follow up. The people who ran the unit were great, they were as helpful as they could be with helping you get your money or apply for college. But it was a very tough time.”

In her Letter to My Younger Self this week she also confessed she’d had “close shaves” in her early career when she starred in ITV drama Band of Gold.

“There was a particular director wanted me to do topless, though that wasn’t in the script,” she said. “I was 16 years old. Sixteen! And I was having sex with a man in his sixties. I didn’t understand that I had a right to say I didn’t feel comfortable.”

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Read the full article in this week's Big Issue.
Find your vendor
Cillian Murphy fights the system
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
The Colonel and The King by Peter Guralnick review – behind the myth of Elvis and his manager
Books

The Colonel and The King by Peter Guralnick review – behind the myth of Elvis and his manager

Cult poet Martin Newell: 'I am the good granddad of rock 'n' roll'
Music

Cult poet Martin Newell: 'I am the good granddad of rock 'n' roll'

Harris Dickinson: 'There are so many injustices. How do you stay across all of them?'
Film

Harris Dickinson: 'There are so many injustices. How do you stay across all of them?'

Dead of Winter review – Emma Thompson is an ice cool, unlikely hero
Film

Dead of Winter review – Emma Thompson is an ice cool, unlikely hero