Claire Foy is opening up about her overnight success playing Queen Elizabeth on Netflix drama The Crown, admitting that she was not pleased with the level of fame she reached. Foy played Queen Elizabeth in the first two seasons of the show, earning two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Foy Worried She Didn’t ‘Deserve’ Her Success
However, appearing on podcast Reign with Josh Smith, the actress admitted that she didn’t love her rise to fame. “I wish I had been able to enjoy it more. I think [fame] makes me feel uncomfortable, is what I’ve learned,” Foy shared. “Not that going to the parties and lovely people being really nice to you is amazing and is wonderful for people to enjoy things that you’ve done, but I felt uncomfortable with it because I basically, fundamentally didn’t think I deserved it.”
Even though Foy’s performance as the queen led to many awards and better roles in other projects, she still doesn’t consider herself a success. “Success in the way that I’ve had it, which is because people say that something you have done has been worthwhile is very difficult unless you think it’s been worthwhile, then it’s not really a success,” Foy said.
Foy played Queen Elizabeth for two seasons before handing over her crown to Olivia Colman to reflect time passing in the show. For the next – and final – two seasons of The Crown, the Elizabeth will be played by Imelda Staunton.
Foy’s Latest Role
Foy is currently starring in the upcoming limited series A Very British Scandal. Foy plays Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll, a British socialite known for her 1963 divorce, during which explicit photographs of her were published. The media dubbed her the”dirty duchess” during the scandal.
In a recent interview about the series, Foy gave her thoughts on the concept of “slut-shaming” and how people’s ideas of women have changed over the years. “I hate the phrase slut-shaming, I absolutely hate it,” she said in an interview with BBC Radio 4. “But I think that women have basically been slut-shamed forever. I think Eve probably was slut-shamed.”
“There is something about it that I just hate, the rephrasing of the ownership of that title and it being used in a way which justifies it even more,” she continued. “Just the word ‘slut’ shouldn’t probably exist.”
Foy also talked about how the portrayal of women in the media is changing for the better. “I can only speak from personal experience as opposed to, like, a cultural revolution kind of way, but I feel like there is a room and an acceptance now that I never would have had,” she said. “There will be scenarios at work, for example, where things will be happening that I would feel were wrong, but I was told that I wasn’t right by society. And now what happens is there’s a forum for me and my friends and my colleagues where, if something’s wrong, there’s someone who goes, ‘Yes, I’m affirming that is actually wrong.'”