Lysette Anthony

It's lovely to be told you're wonderful by someone when you're used to being told how awful you are.

I was sent to boarding school at the age of ten. I think Mummy was trying to protect me in her own way, trying to spare me living through the day-to-day reality of her illness.

Mental illness leaves a huge legacy, not just for the person suffering it but for those around them.

I was thinking of going to London drama schools or to New York, because France didn't accommodate the things I wanted to do in film.

Recently, I was in Bernalda, my dad's ancestral home town in Italy. He has just refurbished a palazzo and turned it into a hotel, so we had my sister's wedding there. It was beautiful.

I knew I wanted to be an actress as soon as I popped out.