Sienna Miller reflects on her ‘It girl’ label and life in the public eye

Actor Sienna Miller looks back on her enduring career in the public eye and compares her experience with the paparazzi with the likes of Britney Spears.

You were called an “It girl” throughout the 2000s. Is it a label you’re happy to have shed now?

I find that as soon as I’m put into any sort of box, I just want to kick my way out. Now, I have such a strong sense of who I am and what I’m capable of that it would just roll off my back.

But I think when you’re young and trying to define yourself and figure out who you are, and there’s all this noise… It was upsetting at the time. I don’t even know what [“It girl”] means but it does sound reductive. It doesn’t sound nice.

“[When I] see footage of photographers chasing and attacking women in the way they did, I start saking - it was so intense.” (Picture: Getty Images)

Your new film Wander Darkly follows couple Adrienne and Matteo as they relive painful memories from their relationship.

Did you inevitably find yourself drawing on your own experiences while working on it?

[The film] explores this idea that life is so fleeting and we do take things for granted. We’re all so lucky. It’s easy to get bogged down in the banal frustrations of what it is to be human. I do spend a lot of time in the past [but] I look back on [it] fondly, irrespective of what it might have been like at the time.

The idea of going back to the inception of a relationship and dissecting the moments where things went wrong was really interesting to me – [as was] beginning to understand how your memory of an experience can be so different to somebody else’s.

“Hollywood waking up to its latent misogyny and the ugly patriarchy being exposed.” (Picture: AFP)

A few years ago, you said you have no interest in being cast as the girlfriend or wife anymore. When did you start pushing back against those roles?

I have talked about that, but then I look back on some of the roles I got to play when I was younger, [like party girl and Andy Warhol muse] Edie Sedgwick [in 2006 film Factory Girl] and [Katya in 2007 drama Interview] with Steve Buscemi, which was such a great character...

But I think because of what’s happening in the world and this tidal-wave of feminism sweeping through, and Hollywood waking up to its latent misogyny and the ugly patriarchy being exposed, people are scared to stick women in movies just to sell tickets. And I think my realisation coincided with this.

You’ve endured significant invasions of your privacy over the years. Was it hard coming to terms with the overbearing curiosity about your personal life?

I don’t feel [that public curiosity] anymore, so it’s like a bad memory. But watching the Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse documentaries and remembering what that time was...

“Being a mother is the most important thing. I’m so madly in love with my child.” (Picture: Getty Images)

[When I] see footage of photographers chasing and attacking women in the way they did, I start shaking – it was so intense. It was a strange time to be a young person becoming well known, at the height of whatever feeding-frenzy was going on in tabloid culture.

How has being a parent and single mum to Marlowe, 8, [her daughter with her ex-fiancé, actor Tom Sturridge] changed you?

Being a mother is the most important thing. I’m so madly in love with my child. Your heart is reshaped, and there’s something infinitely more important than anything else – and there’s existential relief in that. I’d love to have more babies, but I’d better get cracking.

In the 2019 TV miniseries ‘The Loudest Voice’, you wore prosthetics to play Beth Ailes, alongside Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes.

Was not looking like yourself an uncomfortable or liberating experience?

I loved it. People whinge about prosthetics, and it’s a laborious task to get them on [Miller spent four hours being made to look the part for shooting], but having that mask on and being unrecognisable to yourself… It just gave me such freedom.

I’m not obvious casting for it, and I had to age significantly. I loved every second because it’s such an interesting, weird experience to not recognise yourself.

Sienna Miller stars on the cover of this Sunday’s Stellar.

You’ve been a staple of best-dressed lists everywhere from music festivals to red carpets. Are there any outfits you regret?

I really have too many regrets. I look back and chuckle at some of the things – which I wasn’t alone in thinking were great at the time. I was like, “Yes, put that skirt up and use it as a top, put a belt around your chest, and put some jeans on, and baggy boots – oh, chic!”

But I like that I was part of a moment in fashion that will be like a Halloween costume. I think it was probably [about] confidence in the way that when you’re young, you want to be the one to stand out; now I’m happy to blend in. [But] having been in a tracksuit for the past year, once lockdown ends, I’m going to go full Ziggy Stardust.

Wander Darkly will be available on all major digital platforms from May 12.