Catastrophe star Sharon Horgan has revealed she is now in the place in her career that she thought she might never reach.
The Irish actress and writer has achieved huge success with the hit series in which she also played the lead, and Divorce which she wrote for Sarah Jessica Parker.
“It took many, many years for me to actually begin earning a living doing this,” she told the Irish Mirror.
“I think I was 31 before I was properly able to leave waitressing and working in shops, those kinds of jobs and actually make a living at it.
I thought for a long time that it wasn’t going to happen, which is why I’m so busy right now: I’m still really hungry for it.”
Viewers in the US are now seeing Sharon in Military Wives, in which she plays a singer in the army choir. She says music is hugely important to her, even if her writing talents don’t extend to songwriting.
“I have a strong relationship with music and it’s a huge part of my life. When I’m working on TV shows, I always love working on the score. I was educated at a convent, so there was always a choir and if you were in the choir, you got time off to sing at the funerals of nuns.
"So I always felt it was a good idea to find my way into the choir. So I did that. I sang on a friends’ record in a band called The Charlatans, doing backing vocals, but that’s it, apart from my time in the choir.”
Her next movie Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a full-on musical based on an actual musical which ran on the West End.
Sharon turns 50 in July and she’s not looking forward to it.
“I’m going to pretend it’s not there. I don’t know what the situation will be in the world anyway, so it’s unlikely we’ll be having parties anyway. I think I’ll just let it slip away.”
What advice would she give to her younger self?
“Stop being so hard on yourself and have a bit more confidence. Don’t wait around for someone to tell you ‘you can do it’. Just do it.”
Late last year, it was announced that Sharon is divorcing her husband of 14 years, Jeremy Rainbird.
The couple have two two daughters Sadhbh aged 16 and Emer, 12.
They have said they will continue to work together on creative projects. Did she draw much on her own experience when she was writing Divorce for HBO?
“Clearly a lot of my life went into that and the idea is that anyone who’s been married can write about what it feels like to want a divorce and I was married at the time.
"A lot of it was based on a friend of mine, who was one of the few people I knew who were going through a divorce. The backstory of it was sort of stolen from her. I sat down with her with a pen and paper and got her to tell me stories.
"When we got into the writers room, we made sure that the writers had either been divorced or separated or had experience of that.
"And then we brought in a divorce lawyer and people who could tell us about the industry behind the divorce, the industry that grows around other people’s unhappiness.”
During the lockdown, Sharon has been at home with her daughters in their home in East London.
“I’m just with them all the time. There’s underlying fears. I’ve noticed my 12 year old has started sleeping in my bed more and she builds a sort of a wall every night. I overhear how she talks to friends.
“I’m trying to keep things as normal as possible, planning holidays, trips, birthday parties, anything not to fuel their fears.
"We go out and walk every day and we’re really lucky to have a little park in front of our house. We have a picnic, we play football, we walk the dog. Everything is different now, you sort of protect yourself more.
"If someone’s walking down a path towards you, you immediately swerve and give them space. I think that’s what people want you to do.
“The thing about being around kids all the time, which I am every day, is that you never lose the joy, even though it’s tricky and there’s a whole range of difficulties that have risen up, but you’ve still got two funny little creatures to spend your time with.”
Like everyone else, Sharon has indulged in a bit of comfort eating and drinking since the coronavirus crisis started in March.
“I was so good before the lockdown happened. I’ve put on two months worth of fat. I’m walking but I’m not running. I’m doing a small amount of exercise, but not enough.
"And if you’re in your house all day, you’re with your fridge all day and it’s very hard not to keep opening that particular door.
"I think the tricky thing about the lockdown is everyone’s just started drinking heavily. Well, I did. The last few weeks I’ve chilled that out a bit, I’ve been saying to myself, “midweek, you don’t drink, save that for the weekend”.
“But it’s just such a strange time, I think everyone just dealt with it by drinking multiple glasses of wine in the evening.”
