“I’m not saying I’m not going to be all right next week, but every day I wake, say a prayer and say, ‘Please help me,’ ” the actress said in a recent interview
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NEED TO KNOW
- Samantha Morton opened up in a new interview about losing her sister about a year after their father died
- “I sadly lost my sister on April 22 this year. She was 53. And I am still dealing with the coroners,” the actress said
- Morton was born to Pamela and Peter, and has eight siblings
Samantha Morton revealed that she recently lost her sister.
The Odyssey actress, 49, opened up about losing her sister about a year after their father died in an interview with The Sunday Times published on Saturday, Aug. 1.
While speaking about her difficult upbringing, she said, “The past never leaves you.”
Morton continued, “It’s in your DNA, and trauma is a constant battle. My relationship with my past changes as I age and my children age, but things keep happening.”
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The actress went on to share about grieving her sister and her dad.
“I sadly lost my sister on April 22 this year. She was 53. And I am still dealing with the coroners. And the trauma. I lost my real father 18 months ago. Trauma. So the past is always with me, and I’m not saying I’m not going to be all right next week, but every day I wake, say a prayer and say, ‘Please help me,’ ” she said.
Morton was born to factory worker Pamela and coal miner Peter. She has eight siblings. Her mother experienced mental health complications, and her father was an alcoholic.
“Someone told me I was resilient when I was younger. But sometimes you’ve got no choice other than to be resilient because if you are not you’re dead,” she recalled of her childhood. “I went pillar to post with foster families, homeless hostels, sleeping by the bins at the back of the Co-op, because it was too dangerous to go back to the children’s home because of the abuse.”
“I have made choices that have always been about survival, because I watched my mum trying to survive and I watched my dad trying to survive,” Morton said.
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Elsewhere in the interview, Morton spoke about how her past shaped her portrayal of Circe in Christopher Nolan’s epic.
In the story of Odysseus’ tumultuous journey home after the Trojan War, Circe is a goddess with the ability to turn people into animals. As the character, Morton delivers a scathing monologue about men abusing power, which she said came from a personal place.
“These weren’t just words,” she said. “I believe them as Sam, not just Circe. And when I opened my mouth, I was every woman. I was speaking for my mother, who suffered all sorts at the hands of men. And my sister, friends, grandmother. It was all the wrongs and ways that women have been depicted or treated forever.”
Morton spoke candidly about feeling like an outsider when she was younger due to living near a wealthy neighborhood in a 2009 interview with The Guardian.
“The houses on that road are million-pound ones, yet I was living in a children’s home two buses away, where I was up most nights because of riots or sharing a room with a prostitute. You can’t get your homework done and you fall behind,” the She Said actress said.
Morton left school at 13 and developed a drug addiction, per the outlet. She served an 18-month sentence in a facility after threatening to kill a girl who was bullying her.
The Odyssey is now in theaters.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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