Dame Helen Mirren thinks the secret to avoiding paparazzi attention is regularly visiting the supermarket.
The 64-year-old actress and her director husband Taylor Hackford are rarely bothered by photographers. She is convinced the key to evading unwanted media attention is to live a “normal” life, which includes doing your own grocery shopping.
“A lot of the hassle you get from the paparazzi depends on where you go,” Helen said. “Especially if the only place you do go is to the supermarket. You just live your life normally, it’s weird if you do that, they absolutely have no interest in you whatsoever.
“If you’re in fact incredibly accessible, because you’re living your normal life, then they don’t care.”
Even though she has worked out an anti-paparazzi strategy, Helen admits can’t explain why some celebrities are hounded by photographers, while others are virtually ignored.
“It’s funny, they pick on certain people – other famous people,” she told Irish film website movies.ie. “If you are a very high profile actor and your wife is a very high profile actress – like James McAvoy and Anne Marie Duff, a lot of time they don’t bug you. Yet, Britney Spears gets bugged all the time. It’s very weird.”