Actress Helen McCrory's husband Damian Lewis recently talked about their family life, their respective careers, how they manage their time for two kids in their tight schedule and who’s the boss of the household in a recent interview.
Both the husband and the wife are actors. The proud parents of two, in spite of struggling pretty hard to manage their separate work schedule, have been maintaining a perfect family life, all thanks to Lewis’ Boss, we mean his wife (wink).
Lewis recently received OBE from Prince William for his service in the field of acting and he is proud that he has had his hands in few of the greatest TV projects of all time. He appeared as Richard Winters in Band of Brothers, as Soames in The Forsyte Saga, Nicholas Brody in Homeland and most recently, Henry VIII in Wolf Hall. Now, he is all set to star in a new series called Billions. But even though Lewis might be successful and a sought out star, Helen is no less. She is successful in her own way.
Helen, who halted her career to raise their two kids; daughter Manon and son Gulliver, bounced back to the limelight with the TV series Peaky Blinders, movie A Little Chaos and as Medea in the National Theatre. Looking at the duo’s work career, one could say that they might be the small screen Brangelina.
But who’s the boss at the end? Helen of course!!
Yes guys, no matter how busy both Damian and Helen might be, the one who solely handles everybody in the family is Helen herself. While raising their two children, it was she who sacrificed her career for them, not Damian. She let her better half’s heightening career bloom while she was busy at home. Not that it means Lewis is a bad father or a husband. He appreciates what his wife has done for the whole family
Her husband praised her saying: 'My wife is a brilliant, talented actress who had to shape her career during the four or five years our babies were very young, and is now in a position where she is able to show her acting chops a bit more. We're very fortunate. But there's no perfect situation. If you are being offered good work, inevitably some of that is going to be abroad.'
He added to the fact that the children faced lots of difficulties because Helen and Lewis had to visit different cities for filming, but fortunately Helen was there to handle to everything. He said that the parents took time to take care of the children when they were both away.
'But at least I manage to come home sometimes — and the kids will come to us. When I was working in North Carolina and Helen was performing at the National Theatre, they came to stay with me for a month and loved it, with lunch on the set and fun in swimming pools.
'As for the times I can't be with them — Skype is a godsend, although if my children are in the middle of watching something on TV, forget it! We're a family of gypsies, really, and we find ways to deal with it. Getting it right, getting it wrong, the usual.'
And Lewis always looks forward to the time when he would be back with his wife and kids. He added that Helen was the head pilot of their lives from the very beginning. The couple met on stage in a family drama called Five Gold Rings at the Almeida Theatre in 2003. Damian fell head over heels for beautiful Helen but she didn’t. He admitted being a playboy in his past and dating several women from reporters and TV personalities to actresses. But his Casanova image melted when he met his wife, because she was different, according to him.
Though she was three years older than him, she belonged to a reputed family. She was the daughter of a diplomat and was an extremely intelligent and decent woman. According to Lewis, Helen had made things quite clear in the very beginning that she was interested in ‘a commitment or nothing at all.’ “My wife is much more sensible and has much better taste than most people,” he said of his wife.The pair got married after the birth of their two kids.
And now we all know who runs the household. GIRLS!!!!