Helen Mirren Causes Controversy Over Coke Comments

September 2nd, 2008

‘The Queen’ leading lady Dame Helen Mirren has revealed that she frequently used cocaine in her early 20s, and only quit because she learnt that a leading Nazi war criminal had been profiting from the drug.

Mirren, 63, spoke of her “love” for cocaine during an interview for the October edition of Britain’s GQ magazine.

“I loved coke. I never did a lot, just a little bit at parties,” she revealed.

“What ended it for me was when they caught Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, in the early ’80s.

“He was hiding in South America and living off the proceeds of being a cocaine baron. And I read that in the paper, and all the cards fell into place, and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route to this horrible man.”

The Oscar-winning actress also revealed that she was date-raped “a couple of times” when she was a student.

Mirren, who picked up an Academy Award last year for her ‘The Queen’, said she was date-raped when she was young, and did not report it because “you couldn’t do that in those days”.

She said it was rape if a couple engaged in sexual activity but the woman said “no” at the last second, but added, “I don’t think she can have that man into court under those circumstances. I guess it is one of the subtle parts of the men/women relationship that has to be negotiated and worked out between them.”

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