Joanna Lumley has ‘always’ felt detached from her body

Joanna Lumley has "always" felt detached from her body.

The ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ actress – who makes up one half of the comedic duo Patsy Stone and Edine Monsoon (played by Jennifer Saunders) in the British television series and film adaptation – has admitted she doesn’t consider herself a 70-year-old woman and views herself as a separate entity to her physical being.

Speaking to Hello! Magazine about ageing and her appearance, she said: "I’ve always felt detached from this [body].

"It’s like being given a car when you’re born. They say, ‘This is your car’ and you go, ‘Oh but I thought I was going to be a Maserati,’ and they say, ‘Keep it clean, keep the tyres pumped up, keep the boot empty if possible, ad keep it looking spit-spot. I think of my life as an older woman like that – the car will get older, it will need an MOT test, some people might say ‘You should trade it in,’ but you go, ‘No, I like his car.’"

Although Joanna and Jennifer appear inseparable in the sequel, the mother of one – who has son 48-year-old son Jamie Lumley with her ex-partner Michael Claydon – has revealed her husband Stephen Barlow is her true soul mate.

Speaking about her 30-year marriage with the conductor – who she married in 1986 – Joanna said: "I think marriage is a bloody weird thing anyway – it’s strange that so many people manage to be married for so long.

"We’d both been married before and we were determined not to go wrong again.

"It’s been 30 years and we’re both astonished. Mainly by the time that’s passes. Part of that is that we don’t take each other for granted. We both work in different fields aren’t on top of each other all the time, so it’s always exciting to see each other. We love each other. We love each other’s work – if I’m in in a play he’ll always come and see it and if he’s working on an opera I’ll always go to wherever Ito catch a performance."