Oscar Winner Brenda Fricker "I'm Broke!"

The 67-year-old Irish actress, who won an Academy Award in 1990 for her role opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot," has revealed that she is "completely broke." "I lived off my savings while they lasted," she said, adding, "but as long as I have a roof over my head and feed the dog and feed myself, I'm perfectly content." According to Ireland's Herald newspaper, the actress also admitted that she has suffered from depression for 50 years and that she has tried to kill herself 32 times. "You get so bloody tired of nobody listening to you," she told interviewer and fellow actress Anna Friel. "But now I go to a therapist once a week, purely to have a conversation and to hear another human voice." Fricker said that she was "not that keen on life" and doesn't want to live to be 100 years old. "I enjoy the very small things in life and I toddle from day to day, and some days are great and some days are not so great," she admitted. In 2008, Fricker accused the Irish film industry of cutting her "dead." "I'm hurt by it because you're sitting here available for work and being asked to travel 5,000 miles around the world to work with good directors and good actors and good scripts," she told Ireland's Independent. "And yet they're doing good stuff here and nobody even bothers to check your availability." In the same interview, Fricker offered more insight into her money problems, admitting she was a victim of the global stock market crash. "I have good stocks and they were doing quite well but they've all gone now," she said. "It's an expensive hobby but I never get upset about money, there's no point."

That's extremely sad. But if she tried to off herself 32 times she obviously wasn't trying that hard. Still, I feel for her.
Gee, I wonder why someone who has tried to kill herself 32 times can't find work? She sounds so stable.
Loved her as the bird lady in Home Alone 2!
Cheryl
Brenda was acting on a Soap when she won the Oscar.
Are there no workhouses?
She needs a better agent and to get cracking, although it's got to be hard for someone battling depression. Maybe she and Sinead should open up a depression hospital together? I'm serious.
Another lazy ass who blames everyone for her problems.. But thanks to liberals we know have a host of diseases and conditions for her to blame Morgellons, Wheat intolerance, Austism, CFS, and so on.
Fuck off and die R7
I met Brenda when she was in SF shooting "So I Married an Ax Murderer" (dumb movie). She was VERY sweet and gave me her autograph (I know, MARY!)
My Right Foot
Excellent character actress. I agree i thinks she needs a better agent. I think being an oscar winner gives you a better chance of finding work. Producers and casting agents know your a talented commodity already. Hope you get better brenda!
how incensitive, r7. isn't the best supporting actress Oscar considered a curse to future employment? Still, you'd think Ireland could come up with something for her. Didn't she win the BAFTA for 'Surely, Valentine'?
[quote]Another lazy ass who blames everyone for her problems.. But thanks to liberals we know have a host of diseases and conditions for her to blame You know this can happen to you right? I've gone broke (not bankrupt) TWICE. And I've worked at a great job my entire life. The first was during the tech crash of 2001. The second was during the mortgage crash when I ended up selling a 700,000 property for 350,000. So STFU!
R7%27s%20day%20will%20come
We hate you too, R7. A lot.
"Surely, Valentine" LOL. You mean "Shirley Valentine", surely. I don't think she ever did that play or film version but, hey, maybe she did. The Irish --I don't know. They always have problems, don't they. All those potatoes. Bad for you. That's why they booze it up all the time.
But they're fun, interesting, and passionate, R14. Problems come with the territory.
Sinead
r7 you don't win an Oscar by being lazy.
[quote] Didn't she win the BAFTA for 'Shirley Valentine'? That was Pauline Collins. Brenda was up against Julia Roberts for Steel Magnolias. Julia won the Golden Globe and everyone thought she was going to take the Oscar. Brenda was more shocked than anyone that she won and BEAT Julia!
[quote]incensitive Incisive? Insensitive? I need to know. Completely changes the meaning of your post.
I always confuse Brenda Fricker with Brenda Blethyn.
Brenda%20Starr
I always confused her with Brendan Behan.
Me too!
They're easy to tell apart, R19. Brenda Blethyn is the one with talent.
[quote]she has tried to kill herself 32 times. lord, you think she'd get it right by now....
In 20 years we will be reading the same story with the words "Octavia Spencer" in the headline
the%20anti-Octavia%20Spencer%20troll.
I doubt she made all that much money anyway. How much could she have made for even her Oscar winning performance? Not that much.
To be fair she has actually worked rather consistently throughout the years, it's just been on smaller projects and, yes, not much actually based in Ireland. She was in that Canadian film Cloudburst out earlier this year where she played Olympia Dukakis' partner. There are more film projects in Ireland now, but they're nearly all American projects. Maybe they should cast her in Game of Thrones.
That one with Dukakis has not even played here in London .....
She could totally have a great character actress career. The Irish - if they aren't miserable, they'll make themselves miserable.
She's lovely in "Cloudburst" - and why the hell that film hasn't gotten a wide release is beyond me. She and Dukakis are wonderful.
This poor woman. I wonder what the rate or depression is among women in Ireland. They seem so down on psychiatry and women's issues and anything that isn't catholic.
You might be confusing Brenda and Shirley Valentine's Pauline Collins as both were recently in Albert Nobbs.
R30, Irish women just get on with things, instead of getting prescribed meds for every single thing. And outside the US, having a regular therapist is seen as a very strange luxury.
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