Helen Mirren - Helen Mirren: I thought a family was destiny

Helen Mirren: I thought a family was destiny

Dame Helen Mirren always thought having children was her ''destiny''.

The 67-year-old actress - who married director Taylor Hackford in 1997 after 11 years together - expected to start a family at some point in her life, but when she didn't have a baby she was able to accept it.

She said: ''It was not my destiny. I kept thinking it would be, waiting for it to happen, but it never did, and I didn't care what people thought.''

The 'Queen' actress also slammed ''boring old men'' who question her for not being a mother, admitting she has been very blunt in response to their probing.

She told the new UK issue of Vogue magazine: ''Whenever they went, 'What? No children? Well, you'd better get on with it, old girl,' I'd say, 'No! F*** off!' ''

In 2007, Helen won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in 'The Queen' and she is set to play the monarch again in forthcoming stage production 'The Audience'.

While the actress - who also played the titular monarch in TV drama 'Elizabeth I' and Queen Charlotte in 'The Madness of King George' - is looking forward to the play, she was apprehensive about taking on the role because of typecasting fears.

Helen - who is also well known for her role as tough detective Jane Tennison in British TV drama 'Prime Suspect' - admitted: ''Of course I wasn't going to turn it down, it's a lovely role to inhabit. But at the same time, I wasn't sure I wanted to go back there.

'It was hard enough wriggling out of being Jane Tennison. I do sometimes think, if I die in a plane crash tomorrow, will people always think of me as 'The Actress Most Famous for Playing the Queen?' ''