TV star Aisling Bea admitted she finds it lonely to star as the lead of her own show.
The Irish actress and writer, 35, opened up about suffering loneliness in the industry and said she feels haunted by how much technology is aiding it.
The Kildare-born comedian was best known for stand-up and small acting roles before being thrust on to the global stage as Paul Rudd’s wife in new Netflix series Living With Yourself.
Opening up about the role, she admitted she is enjoying just being an actor after putting her heart and soul into This Way Up, the Channel 4 comedy drama she wrote and starred in.
She said: “It’s like having a one-hour baby compared to a 17-hour birth. It’s like, ‘Oh, that one was fine. It just fell out’.”
Describing the show, she added: “It connects with stuff we’re thinking about in terms of finding yourself and what will fix... well, not fix, but help this [heart].” This Way Up shares a common trait and while people are becoming much more comfortable talking about mental health these days, Aisling says it’s about dealing with one of the last taboos – loneliness.
She told Grazia: “If you talk about being lonely, people don’t want to be near you, like they might catch it.”
“But it is the element of the show that connected most with people.
“I can’t keep up with the Instagram messages I get from people telling me how lonely they feel. And they are not people of a certain age, colour, personality or view on Brexit. It’s so human.”
Aisling also argued technology is making us more lonely by tricking us into feeling connected, when actually we’re starved of human touch.
She said: “Sometimes, I feel like I’ve spoken to so many people but I’ve been on my own all day, replying to Whats-Apps. It’s like having a salad but they’ve taken all the vitamins out.”
Commenting on the ageism issue in the industry, Bea, who is 15 years younger than her on-screen husband Paul Rudd, 50, said: “It is unbelievable how, when you hit my age, which is still young, suddenly you’re the wife or mother.”
