Damian Lewis: I’m an angry adult
Damian Lewis’ time in boarding school has made him an angry adult.
The ‘Homeland’ actor attended the revered Ashdown House School and later Eton College, where previous alumni include the likes of Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston – and Damian admits the experience shaped him as a person.
He explained to the Evening Standard newspaper: "I do have a temper.
"There is a latent anger in a lot of people that went to boarding school at an early age. I was eight and I loved it over the five years. But I think the adjustments for eight-year-olds are a lot. And I think it informs who you are for a long, long time.
"But if you learn a mechanism that early to deal with situations that are foreign to you – trying to find your place within a group – you naturally suppress a lot of your own instincts. And I think exercising that amount of control is very clearly related to outbursts of anger later on."
Speaking "semi-tongue-in-cheek", Damian said one of the issues that riles him was the idea "people from private schools were getting acting jobs – a nonsense!"
The acclaimed actor also listed bad driving and litterbugs among his other big frustrations in life.
Meanwhile, Damian has been married to fellow star Helen McCrory since 2007 and the couple – who share a daughter called Manon, 11, and a son called Gulliver, nine – hope to be able to work together at some stage in the not-too-distant future.
However, Damian doesn’t see himself becoming the first flame-haired James Bond, joking he’ll be dead by the time Daniel Craig is replaced as the iconic secret agent.
He quipped: "By the time they make a decision I’ll be dead. So no one needs to worry any more."
