Jessie Buckley has claimed she was ‘brutalised’ and experienced ‘unfair objectification’ during her stint on Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s TV talent show I’d Do Anything.
The actress, now 36, launched her career in 2008 aged 17 as a contestant on the reality show, which was a competition to win the role of Nancy in a West End production of hit musical Oliver!
The Hamnet star finished in second place behind winner Jodie Prenger – and Jessie has now admitted she struggled during her time on TV, saying she ‘wasn’t well’ and experienced ‘unfair objectification’.
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Jessie told Vogue magazine: ‘I was 17. I was in a moment of discovery. As women, it’s such unfair objectification … Back then, I was just trying to move into a space of myself.
‘I really hope that a 15, 17, whatever-age woman never has to be brutalised quite like what happened on that show. But I didn’t recognise it fully at the time. I just felt it, which was difficult.’
‘It’s bonkers, in hindsight. I was just like: “Oh my God. I get to peek behind this curtain already. I get to sing. I get to be part of this industry that I really was hoping I could be part of.”
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Jessie Buckley has claimed she was ‘brutalised’ and experienced ‘unfair objectification’ during her stint on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s TV talent show I’d Do Anything
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The actress, now 36, launched her career in 2008 aged 17 as a contestant on the reality show, which was a competition to win the role of Nancy in a West End production of Oliver!
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‘And I look back at it and I feel like: “God, you’re so brave.” I don’t know if I’d have that courage now. And I don’t know if that was kind of innocence or ignorance.’
However, her mental health was suffering behind-the-scenes. She added: ‘[I] was not well fully. I was depressed and I – just wasn’t well.
‘There was a lot that was really messed up.’
Jessie went on to reveal she particularly suffered from ‘a lot of body shaming’ adding: ‘And bringing me to femininity school. And I was growing into my body.’
After coming second in the competition, she was offered the chance to be Prenger’s understudy in Oliver! – and Jessie admits she turned the job down by walking into the office of famed theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh.
She explained: ‘I walked to his office, rang the bell and said: “Is Cameron Mackintosh here? Thank you, but I won’t be taking that job.”‘
Jessie went on to book plenty of theatre work and later moved into TV and movies making her film debut in 2017 thriller Beast.
The RADA graduate starred in BBC productions such as War & Peace (2016) and Taboo (2017), however it was her role as an aspiring country music singer in 2018’s Wild Rose that was her breakthrough.
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She finished in second place behind winner Jodie Prenger – and Jessie has now admitted she struggled during her time on TV
She starred in BBC productions such as War & Peace and Taboo, however it was her role as an aspiring country music singer in 2018’s Wild Rose (pictured) that was her breakthrough
She was nominated for a BAFTA as a result – missing out to Judy Garland star Renée Zellweger – yet managed to scoop a British Academy Scotland Award for her role.
Jessie went on to land parts in HBO miniseries Chernobyl and FX’s Fargo and in 2019, she was recognised by Forbes in its annual 30 Under 30 list.
Yet it was her role in 2021’s The Lost Daughter that truly landed her global recognition, with Jessie nominated for her second BAFTA as well as her first Academy Award – although she was pipped to the post in both ceremonies by West Side Story star Ariana DeBose.
She played the younger part of Olivia Colman’s character in the drama, embodying Leda, a woman wrought by the guilt of abandoning her young daughters in pursuit of a career in academia.
Jessie revealed the part had made her reflect on her childhood – having been raised in County Kerry, Ireland, as the eldest of five children.
She was immersed in music and creativity from a young age, with her father Tim a musician and her mother Marina a vocal coach.
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Jessie pictured after she won a Critics Choice award on Sunday night for her life-changing Hamnet role
Jessie saw her mother for the first time in two years at the London Film Festival premiere for The Lost Daughter – the only member of her family to have travelled over from Ireland.
Discussing the reunion, she told GQ: ‘It was really emotional. I mean, so much has happened in two years. It was so amazing to share this film with her.’
Reflecting on their relationship, she added: ‘My mum worked all her life. She’d literally give birth, and then two days later be playing at a wedding for somebody, you know, she’s always done that.
‘And it’s hard balancing being a mother, being a wife, and being your own person. What I came away from this [The Lost Daughter] was, Who are we to judge what being a good mother is?’
