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.”
