Sitting in his home office of olive Venetian plaster, Shemar Moore steps away from his hectic 15-hour-day work schedule to trade case for cause. Unlike the role of Morgan, Moore uses his alpha male magnetism to instead crack the code of a different kind of life-robbing transgressor: multiple sclerosis. “I’m a very athletic person – I have been all my life. I found out through some referrals that I could not only enjoy a hobby of mine – which was riding bicycles to stay in shape – I could do it for a good cause, which was raising money and using my celebrity to get the issue of MS out.”

Every year, the activist for change participates in the southern California ride of National MS Society’s Bike MS program, an organized cycling series that helps to support research and service programs that will enhance the lives of those living with MS. In 2009, the Society raised $209 million, of which Bike MS contributed $75 million.

In 1998, Moore’s mother, Marilyn Wilson, was diagnosed with MS. Refusing to succumb to his mother’s kryptonite, his liquid-chocolate eyes turned a blind eye. “It was hard to accept and for a couple of years we were both in denial. I wanted to play it down; I didn’t want to believe it was true. I thought, ‘OK, get over it, toughen up and you’ll beat it – you don’t have MS.’” As her physical abilities weakened, Moore acted on the life lesson of strength his mother taught him by taking the lead and plunging into research. “I’m an only child raised by a single mom and so I didn’t have dad around to be superman, I had mom around to be super-mom, superwoman,” says Moore, who is now brother to three half-siblings that live in Japan with his father. “Like any child, you’re used to them taking care of everything; you’re used to them kind of being the rock. I wanted to stop [MS]. I was trying to figure out what to do to get her mindset strong so she could fight it. Because she’s such a fighter it’s just taught me to be a fighter.”

According to the National MS Society, MS is a disease of the central nervous system that affects the ability of nerves to conduct electrical pulses to and from the brain. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.1 million worldwide. Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada says that Canadians have one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with women more than three times more likely to develop MS than men. “My mother feels profoundly proud that I’m willing to get up and sit on a hard seat and ride the bike ride,” says Moore, who is joined by fellow Criminal Minds cast members on the ride. Over the past four years, the Criminal Minds bike team has raised more than $60,000. “It’s been a 13-year challenge. On good days, she’s dancing around the kitchen and she’s swimming in the pool, and on bad days, she’s house-ridden and bed-ridden. The bad days are less and less as we continue to fight it and do our homework.”

He prepares for the 100-mile ride by training three-to-four months of the year, riding his bike to the set of Criminal Minds or leisurely along the coast of the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles out to Agua Dolce and the mountain range nearby.

Luckily for Moore, he was quick to recover after a serious bike accident last year. “An old guy in an old-school Cadillac veered into the bike lane over by my house and hit me at 40 miles from behind. I broke my leg and cracked my collarbone and a couple of ribs. I was lucky … it could have been a lot worse. It wasn’t my time that day I’d like to think,” says Moore, who endured physical therapy for months. “Here I am a year later and I have my strength back, I have my mobility back. My mom taught me that you can stumble and fall but always get up, dust yourself off and keep fighting, keep pushing forward. She is the strongest woman I know,” says Moore, who was born in California and raised
in Denmark.

With an Irish and French-Canadian mother and African-American father, Moore faced criticism as a child. “When I came to the States I wasn’t black enough because my skin wasn’t dark enough. I wasn’t white enough because my skin was too dark.”

The emotional trauma of racism trickled into his adolescence and adulthood, plummeting his confidence. His lack of self-belief resulted in severe bouts of nervousness while acting. “I was being the Shemar Moore everybody else wanted me to be or I was afraid of not being accepted … My mother always told me at a young age: ‘Don’t worry about being the Shemar Moore that everyone wants you to be – you be the Shemar Moore you want to be. You’re not a colour, you’re a man – you’re Shemar Franklin Moore.’”

In the way that he talks, in the way that he walks, Moore’s actions display a man that has come a long way from those vulnerabilities. Staying true to oneself is a poignant quality that defines him. “… Before I do a talk show or before I do an interview with you; before I do a scene at work, I whisper to myself: Find your truth. That helps overcome my nerves, helps me overcome my insecurities and helps me walk a straight line. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t.” Leaving arrogance off the table, Moore espouses a karmic outlook on life. “I believe in basic goodness. I’d be too naïve and too arrogant to think I’m living this life by myself …. I know I’ve been given a gift. I know that we are all one-of-a-kind; we just have to dig within ourselves and bring out our true potential … we’ve all been dealt a certain deck of cards and raised in different situations and circumstances and faced different challenges … but I do believe in the energy that you put out that that energy comes back.”

Achieving superior physical strength is also a way Moore stays strong and free – all the while satisfying his sweet tooth. He gets his blood going and breaks into a sweat with 10 to 20 laps in the pool in the morning, followed by an hour’s worth of exercise in the “gym on wheels” – a gym in a truck – that is available to him and other crew-members at work. He then gets to enjoy Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream and peanut M & Ms guilt-free.

Best known for dropping jaws on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, Moore is quick to acknowledge that while his looks ushered him into Hollywood, his acting ability is what has kept him there. “If my six-pack and physique were going to get me through doors so to speak, I took advantage of it,” says Moore, who received, among other accolades, a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2000. “Hopefully at this point, when people look at me, they pay attention to my acting ability. I really love the craft of acting and work hard,” says Moore.

At 40, the feisty Aries is single and looking. “I had Playboy tendencies and it was my way of keeping my distance because I have been very focused on my career,” says Moore, who bought himself a sleek black Audi R8 on his birthday. “My grandmother always told me: ‘Don’t go looking for it, when it’s time and she’s right she’ll show up out of the blue and bite you on the tush.’ I’m waiting to be bitten on the tush,” laughs Moore. While he waits, the self-declared “undercover” interior decorator (he renovated his entire L.A. home) expands his artistic talent with his upcoming clothing line, Royalty Soul, and continues the fight to find a cure for MS.

“My life is a journey and I’m having fun letting it unfold and evolve. I’m hoping that what I do opens people’s minds and inspires people to be the best in what they do. I love my mamma, and I’ll continue riding my bike to give her a voice.”

Anticipating a future in independent and feature films, Moore’s path is paved with an uphill climb. “I haven’t caught that bus yet but I’m going to get there soon. Just know that I’m not done knocking down doors,” he says.

www.shemarmoore.org
www.bikems.org

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
— Winston Churchill

OPRAH WINFREY MEET & GREET
Last fall, Oprah Winfrey announced that 2011 will mark the end of her celebrated talk show – making this particular prize that much more prestigious. Not only do the top bidders receive four VIP tickets to The Oprah Winfrey Show, but they also get an exclusive backstage meet-and-greet with the dynamic ruler of daytime TV.
Estimated Value: $50,000
Final Bid: $36,500
Cause: Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

A CHANCE TO CHALLENGE BILL CLINTON AT A ROUND OF GOLF
The 42nd president of the United States is offering his time and talent to the lucky recipient who donated the most for a tee-off. The pair will play a round of golf at the distinguished Trump National Golf Course in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
Estimated Value: $100,000
Final Bid: $80,000
Cause: Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth

ROCK OUT ON THE SET OF 30 ROCK WITH ALEC BALDWIN
The top bidder will kick back at the Rockefeller Center with Alec Baldwin, star of 30 Rock. Baldwin will take one special guest behind the scenes for a rehearsal, taping and studio tour of NBC’s No. 1 comedy series.
Estimated Value: $10,000
Final Bid: $25,000
Cause: Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

MAKE SMALL TALK WITH ROBERT DE NIRO OVER COFFEE
Meet the Oscar-winning actor in the Red Apple for a hot cup of coffee and some good conversation.  The godfather of the big screen and famous philanthropist is taking one winner and a chosen friend out for lattes, and dishing out four passes to the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.
Estimated Value: $7,500
Final Bid: $8,500
Cause: Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

VIP SCREENING/AFTER PARTY PASSES TO FENCES, STARRING DENZEL WASHINGTON
One generous bidder and a lucky loved one were able to watch double Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington star in the Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Fences on April 26th, 2010. In New York City style, the star-studded after party left little time for shut-eye.
Estimated Value: $1,500
Final Bid: $2,750
Cause: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

CALIFORNIA WINERY EXPERIENCE FOR SIX WITH EMERIL LAGASSE
Fly first class with five friends to meet chef Emeril Lagasse and winemaker Bob Cabral for a vineyard tour and dinner at California’s Williams Selyem Winery. After sipping on fine Pinot Noir, the fortunate sextet will rest at the nearby Hotel Healdsburg.
Estimated Value: $50,000
Final Bid: Undisclosed
Cause: Keep Memory Alive

VISIT AFRICA AND STAY AT THE KIFARU HOUSE IN MOUNT KENYA
This awe-inspiring African experience at the privately owned 65,000-acre Lewa Wildlife Conservancy on the bluff of Mount Kenya defines spectacular. Up to 10 people will spend seven days at the secluded Kifaru House.
Estimated Value: $49,000
Final Bid: Undisclosed
Cause: WINGS WorldQuest

CUSTOMIZE YOUR VERY OWN BOTTEGA VENETA HANDBAG
As a trendsetter in the inventive design of high-end Italian leather goods, Bottega Veneta is offering the top bidder a generous opportunity to meet with an expert to customize a handbag from the luxury brand’s Icon collection. The humanitarian’s handbag will be personalized from inner lining to outer skin.
Estimated Value: $20,000
Final Bid: $17,501
Cause: Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth

LOUNGE AT THE AMANYARA RESORT AT TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
Words simply can’t convey the exquisiteness of this oceanside Caribbean resort. Four nights free accommodation in a lavish four-bedroom villa was granted to one lucky guy or girl and seven of their deserving friends. The perfect place to rest, relax and maybe even reef dive.
Estimated Value: $27,800
Final Bid: $13,800
Cause: Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth

TOUR JAY LENO’S CELEBRATED CAR COLLECTION
The doors of Jay Leno’s custom-built Big Dog Garage lifted for an exclusive private viewing for two. Known for his coveted car collection that spans generations, Leno’s famed garage houses everything from a Stanley Steamer to a Bugatti Atlantic.
Estimated Value: $5,000
Final Bid: $23,000
Cause: Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

YOUR KID COULD BE THE NEXT GAP MODEL
Set the stage for your child’s success. In addition to a personal photo shoot and the chance at starring in a Gap ad, your lucky little one will tour Central Park and attend a Universal movie premiere in Los Angeles.
Estimated Value: $20,000
Final Bid: $10,000
Cause: Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth

ONE WEEK AT VOGUE
Spend a week with the woman who runs the runways. Iconic Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue has invited one ambitious bidder to spend seven days sharpening their fashion editorial skills at the magazine’s New York City office. The fortunate follower will even get to sit in on a New York fashion week show.
Estimated Value: $10,000
Final Bid: $42,500
Cause: Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

Having portrayed Meena Paroom on the children’s television show Cory in the House, Walsh is emerging from a Disney discipline more like Hilary Duff than Lindsay Lohan. “I really am not into the club scene. I would rather just hang out with a group of friends who know me and just be complete goofballs,” explains Walsh. “That’s more fun to me than trying to look super-hot and going to the coolest clubs.”

Born to an American father and Brazilian mother, 21-year-old Walsh was born in Seattle, and spent some of her formative years residing in Brazil. “It’s funny because America’s my home, but once I step off the airplane in Brazil I have that feeling of ‘oh, I’m home now!’” When the Walsh family relocated from Seattle to California, Walsh enrolled in acting classes and scored an agent. “My parents weren’t ecstatic about me pursuing the career of an actress. Both of my parents are very much into education – both have a master’s degree – and they were worried that I would just throw that off to the side. But once they realized how passionate I was about it and once I actually started booking roles, they’ve been supportive ever since.” Shortly after moving to California, Walsh landed roles on the popular Nikelodeon television series Unfabulous and in the film Lullabye Before I Wake. At 18, she was cast in Cory in the House, a gig that she says taught her a lot about the industry. “I think I learned comedic timing, what it’s like to work with a large group of people and creating that family atmosphere,” muses Walsh.

Already a celebrity amongst tweens, parents are now becoming familiar with Walsh, courtesy of her role as Ana Solis, the rebellious and scheming niece of Eva Longoria’s character, Gaby, on Desperate Housewives. Walsh’s role as an angst-ridden teen is quite different from her mellow and composed real-life persona. “I love playing characters that are so different from me because that’s part of acting,” says Walsh. “She [Ana] would be the last person I’d want to be friends with. She’d probably be someone that I’d want to get through to and talk to about her issues.” On set, Walsh and Longoria discuss literature. “It’s kind of a little nerdy thing that Eva and I do. We’ll read in-between takes and then we’ll tell each other about what we’ve read. We get so excited and so into it!”

When not immersed in a script or filming scenes, the young actor works on her emerging music career. “I’m still finding my sound right now. But I don’t want my music to be just one thing, I want it to kind of bridge different areas of music,” she explains. “I’m slowly learning how to play the piano, but I’m pretty terrible. It is only because I don’t practise enough,” she admits.

Walsh has also used her voice for good, dedicating her time to charities and causes she believes in. This past March she co-hosted Girl Prep, a youth conference sponsored by the In a Perfect World foundation and founded by the Young Women’s Empowerment Network. Workshops targeting self-esteem, leadership and youth activism were set up and 250 girls between the ages of 10 and 13 participated in the event. As a young woman working in image-driven Hollywood, Walsh identified with the girls. “I think self-esteem is important for everyone,” she says. “But I feel like the youth is so influenced right now by the media and the culture around them that they kind of forget what I think is important, which is valuing yourself and not needing to fit into this one image that most people can’t fit. They shouldn’t have to.”

Walsh endearingly labels herself a dork, a claim that is difficult to believe considering her charmed lifestyle. “I love learning. I love science. I can talk about biology or the brain for like hours and just be happy!” With a starring role in The Prankster, a coming-of-age teen comedy that will soon be released, this self-proclaimed nerd certainly has a big career ahead of her. “This is a career that I want to pursue for the rest of my life. I also want to go to college and get a degree in psychology. But I think that’s something I can do while still pursuing acting.” www.maiara-walsh.com

It has been a busy four years. After all, installing yourself on the Hollywood A-list is no easy task. But those who think the 22-year-old British beauty has just suddenly found herself on the brink of joining that rarefied breed are sorely mistaken. Knightley’s rise to fame didn’t happen when she began fraternizing with pirates – she has been charming casting directors with her legendary pout for much longer than most of us think.

At age three, Knightley asked her parents to hire an agent. By the age of nine, the ambitious youngster had landed her first film role, a small part in A Village Affair. More film and TV roles followed. At the tender age of 14, Knightley landed her first role in a big Hollywood movie as Padme, in the 1999 Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace.

Within two years, she had landed her first sizable part in the teen horror, The Hole, which was soon followed up with the role of footballer Jules in Bend It Like Beckham - generally considered to be her breakthrough.

It was a steady, seemingly inexorable rise which culminated with the first Pirates film in 2003. From that point on, Knightley has been living out her dream.The industry kudos that goes with huge box office smashes like Pirates of the Caribbean:The Curse of the Black Pearl and the 2003 Brit hit, Love Actually, has resulted in Knightley taking on commanding lead roles, ranging from a bounty hunter in Domino, to Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, both in 2005. Knightley’s credibility as an actress skyrocketed when she received a Best Actress nomination for her role in Pride and Prejudice.

So far, so perfect. Her star has continued to shine brighter with every role, and with that, her media profile has shot into the stratosphere. Last year’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest became one of only three films to break $1 billion at the box office. Knightley – who admits she always craved attention – now gets it wherever she goes. That dream of hers is an undoubted reality. And it’s a reality she is fast learning to loathe.

Attention, Knightley has found, is not always good. Not when you’re being constantly harassed by paparazzi wherever you go and especially not when pictures of you looking skinny are heralded in a U.K.newspaper as the reason for a young girl’s death from anorexia.

The story angered Knightley enough for her to take the paper to court, and she was recently awarded £3,000 in damages for what she described as entirely false and deeply offensive allegations. The money, along with another £3,000 out of Knightley’s pocket, will go to beat, a charity for people with eating disorders.

Together, with the constant scrutiny of prying reporters and the relentless, intrusive flash of the cameras, the incident appears to have left the young actress jaded. Knightley has expressed admiration for the full-figured Beth Ditto, the lead vocalist of The Gossip, and admitted that she would love to have the curves of The Matrix star Monica Bellucci.

The more people have focussed on her, the more she seems to have looked at herself, her image, and more importantly, her ambitions. Previously, Knightley has taken on project after project out of the fear that her new-found-fame might ebb. Now, it appears, that might be exactly what she wants.

Here, Knightley opens her heart about her fame, anorexia, the darker side of living out her dreams, and explains why she’s thinking of quitting Hollywood altogether.

Q: Why didn’t you go to the Oscars this year?
A: I do love going out and getting dressed up as much as the next girl but I wouldn’t just turn up at the Oscars for that reason. I wasn’t in any film that was nominated so really, there was no place for me there.

And to be truthful, I’m just completely rubbish at those sorts of events. I’ve become completely phobic about the red carpet because you just get so scrutinized and all I think is, ‘I’m going to be in the Top Ten Worst Dressed.’
Q: You are always praised for your fashion choices. Whose style do you admire?
A: I try, I really do, but I’m just no good at that stuff. I look at Helena Bonham Carter, who just wears whatever she wants and looks amazing. Or Cate Blanchett, who is so stunning and so completely stylish and perfect that she looks almost like a living statue.

Q: Do you enjoy attending celebrity events?
A: I just never feel comfortable. At the parties, I stand on my own, grinning aimlessly, desperate for it all to be over. I can never think of a thing to say. I wish I was Sienna Miller. I watch that girl and she’s just fabulous. She talks to everyone and laughs and smiles and looks as if she is genuinely enjoying herself. When I talk to her, I hope a bit of her party personality will rub off on me but it never does. She could give master classes in being the most amazing party guest. I really actively now try and avoid parties. My idea of a good night is just hanging out with my mates. Actually, my best night out for ages was going to see The Gossip at a club in London.

Q: What do you think of The Gossip’s flamboyant singer, Beth Ditto?
A: She is just amazing. And she’s so sexy. She really is. When she was performing, she started taking all her clothes off. I stood there watching her strip thinking, ‘Oh my God, that woman is so sexy.’ She has the most amazing body.

Q: If you could look like one Hollywood star, who would it be?
A: If I’m honest I would sit here and say that I wish I had a body like Monica Bellucci which is just so female and curvy. But I’m not going to do that because then I am falling into that trap of saying you are not happy with what you have. I wish I had longer legs but I [don’t]. What I have does its job. And ironically, I’m learning to become happier with myself as a result of all this.

Q: Where do you see yourself in five years? Will you still be acting?
A: You know, acting was the only thing I ever wanted to do. But to be honest, I can see myself in five years or whatever just giving the whole thing up. I honestly would. I’d just do something else and move on. I can see things getting to the point where I just can’t do this anymore.

Q: How is your relationship with Rupert Friend going?
A: I just can’t go into personal relationships; you have to keep something private.

Q: You were criticized recently after photographs were taken of you looking thin in a bikini. How did that make you feel?
A: I was completely devastated by all that. Yes, I am thin. And yes, to be honest, I looked very thin in those photos, but they were taken immediately after filming Pirates and I had lost weight. They weren’t publicity shots, they were pictures just snapped. I do a lot of action films, but none of them are more physically gruelling than Pirates, where we are filming in searing temperatures and shooting fight scenes in which you are wearing a wetsuit underneath a load of corsets and you are fighting with heavy weights in the water. Can you imagine a more advanced cardio workout than that done hour after hour?

Q: Is it fair to blame celebrities for teenage anorexia?
A: When all that blew up I felt terrible. It was as if I was being made to seem as if I was promoting something, when I absolutely was not. I am thin because that’s what I am and I was thinner at a point because of the work that I do. Nothing else. I took it very seriously. I went to the doctor to be checked out and asked him what I could do to put on weight.

Q: What did the doctor tell you?
A: He said that for someone of my body type to get to a size 12, I would just have to eat a lot of s**t food and stop exercising. Basically, my body type is naturally thin. There is nothing I can do about it. I can manipulate my body to be bigger – which I did when I was filming King Arthur, by eating loads of proteins and drinking loads of protein shakes – and I did manage to bulk myself out. But I don’t want to have to go round eating c**p and being really unhealthy in order for people to stop having a go at me.

Q: What would you say to teenagers who look at photographs of you and wish they were thinner?
A: I don’t want my picture to be on anorexia websites. But I also know enough about that disease to know that it is a mental illness. What I want to say is just be happy with what you are and be healthy, but that means nothing to someone with a mental illness – someone who at 56 lbs still thinks of themselves as fat.

I wouldn’t dare be so patronizing. It is true that there are people who manipulate their bodies in this business one way or the other. My concern for myself is to be healthy. We have become completely body-obsessed. We all have to conform to one shape, but I don’t see it’s an issue just about size. I think we should appreciate the beauty of older women, as well as younger women, but that just doesn’t happen.

I hate the idea that anyone manipulates their body. But I also hate the fact that naturally thin women like me are becoming scapegoats for promoting a mental illness like anorexia.

Q: What is your opinion on the raging size 0 debate?
A: I don’t know why people are so obsessed. All those pictures of celebrities. Are they fat, are they thin? Have they got spots? Young female celebrities all over the magazines – it’s just horrible.

Q: What do you find most difficult about being a Hollywood star?
A: Every morning there are 10 men outside my flat. They are there from 9 a.m. until after midnight, with cameras, video cameras, chairs, cars, motorbikes, everything. The whole celebrity thing is just completely crazy. The paparazzi are not just crazy, but they are dangerous. Young women are driven into mental breakdowns because of them.

Q: Why do you think so many young female celebrities are checking into rehab?
A: Rehab has just become a safe house. I look at Britney Spears and see what torture she’s going through and then I think of what I put up with and what she must have to put up with multiplied by 100 and it just makes me want to cry.

Q: Do you ever feel threatened by paparazzi?
A: We are being hunted. I don’t own a car because I can’t drive in London because I get chased and it’s too dangerous. If I get into a cab, then I’m risking not just my own safety, but the safety of everyone else around me. The cab driver always freaks and drives just looking in the rear view mirror, which means he’s not concentrating on the road.

I swear someone could get killed because of this stupid situation. It won’t be the celebrity. It won’t be the paparazzi. It will be someone’s child caught up in the middle of this madness. It got to the point where I truly thought I was going mad. Imagine having a camera in your face, men following you all the time. I got so paranoid, all the time I was thinking, ‘Is someone watching me?’ because they were. I told my mum that this is what schizophrenic people are like, that’s what I had become. You see yourself tipping into madness.

Q: Do you ever wish you weren’t famous?
A: I know anyone listening to me could think I’m just being totally dramatic. That I’m this spoilt little movie star with lots of money, a lovely apartment and great life, why should I be complaining? But it’s just got too much. I’m not just talking about myself. I’m talking about other young women like me. This isn’t what I wanted from being an actress. I don’t court it.

Q: Do you still enjoy being an actress?
A: I think I just have to move away or give it up altogether. I couldn’t have kids in the situation. I’m in now. But I could just do something else. That’s probably what’s going to happen. I’m just not so hungry anymore. I made a decision very recently that I want a life instead.

Q: How long have you been feeling this way for?
A: Basically I’ve been in a bit of a state for a while. I haven’t had any sort of a holiday since I was 15. When I first got into acting, I was so terrified work would dry up I just went from one project into another and never stopped.

Q: When did you decide to take a break from acting?
A: I stopped working last November. I had to. I’d got to a body breakdown. I felt I had permanent jet lag and couldn’t mentally or physically adjust. I had a apartment I’d bought but never lived in, friends I loved but never got to see. I just wanted to have a bit of a normal life. I also wanted to go on holiday, so I went to Greece before Christmas, which was amazing.

Q: Is it true your Atonement co-star James McAvoy advised you to take a break in the Himalayas?
A: I couldn’t really take all the pressure of being followed around. I was talking to James McAvoy and his wife Ann-Marie, who are just fantastic. James is this total mad adventurer who does all sorts of crazy things. He just said to me that there was a big world out there and I needed to get out of my world and into a bigger one. He suggested trekking in the Himalayas. I just thought, ‘why not?’ and went. I spent 10 days in a place where no one knew me or cared what films I’d been in.

Q: Did it help you to relax and get things in perspective?
A: Absolutely. We spent days trekking and nights sleeping in little guest houses with barely any electricity or hot water. It was so cold you just had to sleep in your clothes and it was completely liberating and wonderful. I got to have some total peace and balance and see myself as a tiny little insignificant speck – something I really needed.