Gugu Mbatha-Raw covers the February issue of Tatler, mostly to promote her BBC One series, The Girl Before. Gugu has a million projects out right now, or coming up. She’s been working a lot, and most of the work is coming to her in America. She lived in LA for several years as she worked on The Morning Show, and I think she was stuck in America for much of the pandemic. Which explains why she recently bought a place in London and why she sounds somewhat homesick in this interview, which took place in San Francisco as she worked on an AppleTV+ series. You can read the full piece here – she talks about the cultural differences between Brits and Americans, and whether she would play the Duchess of Sussex in The Crown.
Complaining about how Americans serve tea: ‘You get hot water and a teabag on the side and they haven’t even taken it out of the wrapping.’
Buying a place in the UK: ‘I was [thinking], “When am I going to see my parents again?” I remember when my mum couldn’t get an Ocado order. I said, “I can do it because I’m in LA. I can be online at three in the morning [UK time]. I can get you a slot and make sure there’s loo paper.” That was a mad, mad time.’
Oprah called her after seeing her in ‘Belle’: ‘I was doing Oprah and Deepak Chopra’s 21-day meditation experience and it was around the end of that time that I got a call from her. I didn’t answer it because I didn’t recognise the number. And then I played the voicemail: it was like, “Hi, it’s Oprah.” It was that voice, so iconic, that I’d been listening to every day and I thought, “This is so surreal.” A lot of these meditations are focused on manifesting your best life and I thought, “Whoa, have I just manifested Oprah on my voicemail? This meditation is powerful stuff!” I feel like she’s always there if I need to reach out. It’s not like we’re close buddies but I respect her so much.’
The most important quality for an actor is persistence: “It’s not like I was plucked out of drama school to be in anything hugely starry or high-profile. I’ve always worked hard and there are a lot of things I haven’t gotten. I’ve got close to lots of big things… I learnt early on that your talent is really not enough. You have to cultivate resilience and be able to bounce back from disappointment. You can’t be too fragile. I think you have to have access to your sensitive faculties, but you also have to know how to coach yourself along and give yourself a talking to and pick yourself up when you need to…’
Americans are charmed by the Royal Family: ‘It sort of feels like a fairytale from an American viewpoint.’ She is supportive, too: ‘I’m sure it’s not an easy life. And I’m sure we don’t know the half of it. But I respect it.’ And although she has never come across Prince Harry and Meghan in Los Angeles, she feels sympathetic towards them: ‘I wish them luck. It’s a tricky transition to make.’
On the suggestion that she could play Meghan on The Crown: ‘Oh my God, that’s hilarious,’ she says, sounding genuinely surprised. How would she feel if she were offered the role? ‘I’d be very flattered; I’d have to consider it.’
She has a sunny disposition: ‘It’s very un-British, isn’t it? People are suspicious of it. They’re like, “Hang on here. Wait a minute. Where’s the problem?” I do think happiness is a choice, to a degree. I think I’ve probably always been a naturally outgoing kind of open person. I’m always looking for an adventure and I think choosing to enjoy things makes life more fun.’
She doesn’t want her private life to make headlines: ‘I live very normally, I don’t hide away. I think it’s quite possible to have a personal private life. I understand the curiosity but I think it’s always healthy to have boundaries. As an actor, I feel like the work speaks for itself and it’s nice to be able to allow people to go on a journey with the character – without feeling like you need to know every single detail about that person’s life.’
She loves food: ‘More than anything, I eat for fuel. I’m not vegetarian or vegan. I have quite adventurous tastes when I’m not working. I love to try foods that I haven’t eaten… And dessert always! I love a chocolate dessert or a tiramisu.’
First of all, I hope it’s clear that she didn’t bring up the Meghan thing, and Tatler makes a point of saying that Peter Morgan won’t extend The Crown into the Sussex era, so it’s just a moot point. All that being said, why on earth would they hire a British actress to play an American actress who married into the Windsor clan? That would make no sense. Gugu also mentions that she was awarded the MBE, and Prince Charles was the one to give it to her. She describes the experience as very meaningful, and she got to bring her family to the ceremony. Love what she says about Oprah too – just goes to show you, all of that sh-t about “British people don’t know who Oprah is” was just racism and performance.
Cover courtesy of Tatler.
She seems really sweet and down to earth. I always get angry on her behalf that she’s not more mainstream but by the sound of it she doesn’t seem to mind. Good for her.
She was great in Loki! Really hope she gets a meaty role for the next season.
What’s the Oprah thing about?! Everyone knows Oprah! I grew up in the north of England and I religiously watched oprahs talk show in the 90s with my mum back then, aswell as ricki lake and sally Jesse Raphael 😃 sigh i really miss GO RICKI, GO RICKI and the makeovers 😃
(Can only assume it’s more of the usual shi*te connected to the royals, yawn)
Haha, yes. In the lead up to The Interview, there was lots of talk in the UK (mostly from RRs) about how she was just a “tabloid reporter” or something.
And then Sophie, after the interview was asked about it and she said “oprah who?” (which would have been okay, it was clearly a joke) but then she went on about how people in England didn’t really know who Oprah was etc.
Urgh I knew it would be some crap from those idiots, Oprah is probably one of the most famous women in the world, has worked hard to get there, and they know it!
Love her. And, my god, she is gorgeous.
I’m listening to Gugu read Sense and Sensibility and she’s great. It’s making me so happy.
Nice little article. About playing Meghan Markle, Gugu has played an American in London before. Of course Tatler would drop Meghan’s name in there, lol.
If the Crown were to extend to the Sussex era the actress that I think should play Meghan is Zendaya. It would be perfect bc her star power (much like Meghan) gets bigger each year and will outshine whoever they cast to play the rest of the Windsors. Full circle.
For aesthetic reasons I think Zendaya isn’t the best choice. As gorgeous as she is, she’s to tall, lanky and way too young.
Agreed. She would be an awful choice for those reasons and many others as well.
I enjoy her work so much. There’s a sci-fi movie from 2018 called “Fast Color” that I highly recommend. It’s on Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video. I think the writer and director, Julia Hart, is really going to do cool things in future 🙂