Gemma Arterton feels "inspired" by her late grandmother, who took her own life eight years ago after feeling "suffocated" by domestic life.
The 32-year-old actress has opened up about the passing of her "remarkable" grandmother Helen, who died in 2010 after living a "very tough" life plagued by her battle with bipolar disorder – which causes a person to experience both manic and depressive episodes – and her desire to live a more fulfilled life.
Gemma said: "My maternal grandmother had a huge effect on me. Still does. She was a remarkable woman. She was bipolar and committed suicide eight years ago after living a very tough, difficult life. Who she was had a deep effect on me and stayed with me and will continue to inspire me.
"She had these dreams and hopes that were put on hold to raise five children whom she loved dearly but it wasn’t enough. Family life, domesticity, suffocated her and she gave up a lot for them. I always felt very moved by that sacrifice, a sacrifice all too common for so many people, particularly so many women."
The ‘Quantum of Solace’ actress felt compelled to speak about her grandmother’s tragedy after she wrapped filming on her new movie ‘The Escape’, which tells a similar story about a woman who feels trapped by family life.
The production was filmed in Kent, near where Gemma grew up and where Helen had lived, and the star insisted it felt as though her grandmother was on set with her.
She added: "She was with me on set. I felt her and I thought about her so much, especially shooting in Gravesend. Everything was so evocative and familiar, we even shot at my mum’s house, so the smells, the air was what I knew so well."
‘The Escape’ sees Gemma – who co-wrote and produced the movie – star as Tara, a suburban mother and wife who seemingly has a good life but is desperate for something more, and so decides to run away.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Gemma said: "It’s a story with universal relatability. I think we’re all looking for an escape. My grandmother was artistic and wrote poems, some of them were published and no one in the family even knew.
"My mother would be on set with me and say, ‘You know this is your grandmother’s story.’ But it’s a universal story about a woman who’s fighting to breathe while being choked and escaping from her happy life.
"It’s a fragile subject and very personal to me. There’s so much of me in it, it really came from inside me and then shooting in Gravesend, it’s like a mirror of what my life could have been had I never left maybe?"
Gemma Arterton feels ‘inspired’ by late grandmother
