Kevin & Perry star Kathy Burke has told how she loves to Go Large… by smoking cannabis.
The actress says she now prefers weed over alcohol – and reckons it is time to legalise it.
Kathy, 56, said: “I hardly drink at all now. I have a lovely spliff still, I do. They should legalise it. It makes me feel funny I’m sort of breaking the law every time I’m off my nut.
“But it’s not your nut really, it’s just a nice relaxed, altered state. It’s my preference.”
Kathy, who says she spent the lockdowns “making cushions and doing yoga”, shot to fame alongside Harry Enfield in the 1990s as moody teen Perry and chain-smoking pizza lover Waynetta Slob.
She added: “I would legalise drugs. I think it’s a nonsense. Even in America there are states where cannabis is legal and the crime rate does go down.”
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In the UK, cannabis is a Class B drug. Those possessing it can face unlimited fines and up to five years in jail. But Kathy says she would draw the line at legalising cocaine.
She admitted: “I’m not a fan of people on cocaine. That’s the only thing I put my foot down about.”
The actress appeared on several sketch shows such as French & Saunders before landing the role of magazine editor Magda on Absolutely Fabulous.
In 1997 she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her role as Val in drug-themed Gary Oldman film, Nil By Mouth.
And one of her favourite memories is of being taken to the festival on the French Riviera by private jet.
Speaking on stage at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End, Kathy said: “They wanted me to come to Cannes as I’d been nominated, so I was smuggled in a private jet – I didn’t have a passport.
“This was pre-9/11. The jet was provided by one of the exec producers.
“Luckily, I had a pinstripe suit I’d had made for Harry Enfield’s wedding that had just come back from the cleaners. I wouldn’t have had anything else to wear.
“When we landed I thought we’d get a car… I was forced into this helicopter with a glass bottom over the Med.
“It was extraordinary, but I was like, ‘When can I have a fag?’”
