Helen Mirren Finds The Word ‘Feisty’ Insulting – And She’s Not Afraid To Tell The One Show That

Helen Mirren{ =nofollow}has called out The One Show presenter Alex Scott for using the word ‘feisty’ to describe her various roles. On Wednesday’s episode, following a montage of parts Mirren has played – such as Catherine the Great and Queen Elizabeth II – Scott said she admired her for all the ‘strong, feisty’ women she has portrayed.

While Scott meant well, Mirren picked her up on the use of the word, which has long been considered sexist. ‘I have to say I don’t like the word feisty,’ she responded. ‘I don’t know why. I think it’s because it’s always related to women. They never say feisty man, kid maybe, but I find it slightly insulting, I don’t know why. I want to find another word.’

Not knowing what to do, Scott and her co-host Matt Baker replied with a surprised, ‘Oh.'

It isn’t the first time Mirren has denounced sexist language. In an interview with The Times in 2015, she expressed her dislike of using the word ‘sassy’ to describe women, saying 'We need new words for female power and funniness and smartness'.

The 79-year-old recently said in an interview that Catherine the Great{ =nofollow}’s portrayal throughout history has been misogynistic. ‘It’s appalling, the way history treats successful, powerful women,’ she said. ‘It has to pull them down. Her unbelievable achievements were very successful, obfuscated by history.’

‘You look at the way Louis XIV or Henry VIII behaved – their behaviour was completely unacceptable, whereas Catherine had a series of four or five relationships, which in any modern woman’s life is not that many. She certainly was never the sort of mad creature that history made her out to be.'

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