Billie Piper has made the rare and successful transition from pop star to actress, but no matter her dizzying array of talents, she is still a mum who’s worked throughout her pregnancies. And that’s even during the nude scenes.
As well as promoting Two for Joy, a film she stars in, she’s currently shooting Rare Beasts, her first film as director. When asked if the 14 hour days were taking their toll, Billie, who is in her second trimester with her third child, said: ‘I’m in the Matrix zone where you’re actually very sharp mentally and you have extraordinary energy’
‘That’s what I’ve found throughout my pregnancies. Much further along it would be a very different story.’
Body-doubles were used when she was previously pregnant and shooting sex scenes for Secret Diary of a Call Girl, ‘because things became obvious’, but right now, shooting Rare Beasts, which Billie says is an 'anti rom com', things have been different: ’we have to be quite creative with shots on some days, but we did a great deal of prep and we’ve been pretty loyal to our shot list. It might be a different story in a week, but at the moment we’re sort of moving through with most of our plans intact.’
Unlike her ex, actor Laurence Fox, who has happily spoken about their divorce following an 8-year-long ‘hedonistic’ marriage, saying ‘The emotional strain was dreadful. For six months I found it hard to sleep. I was in therapy for a while and it helped me cope with feeling raw.’ Billie stayed relatively schtum about her private life.
However, she did give a little insight into the sort of stuff she has to juggle, when The Times’ interviewer suggested her hard work throughout pregnancy is impressive: ’I think you’d be surprised how many people work through their pregnancies’, she responded.
‘It’s pretty standard. I haven’t ever sat down and made those decisions. It’s generally because I’ve been contracted to something. I was always going to film Rare Beasts at this time, so you just sort of make space for everything in your life. Most women tend to.'