Hannah Waddingham is one of the greatest female British actors on screen right now - beloved for her Emmy-award winning role on Ted Lasso. Having started her career in musical theatre, the 48-year-old South West London-born actor landed TV roles in popular shows such as Footballers Wives, Game of Thrones and Sex Education. But it wasn't until her breakout role in Apple Tv's Ted Lasso in 2020 that she became a household name on both sides of the Atlantic - playing the inimitable Rebecca Welton - owner of the beleaguered AFC Richmond football club; a feminist, Marilyn Monroe blonde powerhouse in trademark bodycon and sky high stilettos. Her storyline on the show's past three seasons has seen Rebecca graduate from angry divorcee intent on destroying her ex-husband's former prize possession (Richmond AFC) with the appointment of the seemingly hapless American coach Ted Lasso to empowered and respected power player in a man's world. Her relationships with the team players and Ted alike are heartwarming and intriguing with the show's brilliant and important portrayal of mental health issues and themes of kindness and tolerance one of the reasons it's become such a runaway success (and led the cast to recently visit the White House alongside President Biden and the First Lady to discuss mental health.) Hannah is also currently starring on our screens in ITV's period drama, Tom Jones.
Now, having recently hosted the Olivier Awards in April, Hannah has been honoured with the task of co-hosting this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool (which the United Kingdom is hosting on behalf of last year's winners, Ukraine) alongside Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina and Graham Norton.
We meet just a couple of weeks before Hannah is due to host Eurovision and even through Zoom, with her camera off for half the interview (for which she's effusively apologetic - she's in hair and makeup) her energy commands the room. Hannah Waddingham really is fabulous.
Here Hannah speaks to GLAMOUR about mental health, misogyny, motherhood and her all important role co-hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine.
GLAMOUR: Congratulations on co-hosting Eurovision. What a gig! How did it come about?
HANNAH: Well, as a theatre girl, I don't know whether you guys know, but the West End community is fully obsessed with Eurovision. So the combination of the theatre girl in me and the fact that I couldn't believe I was asked this year and for our friends from Ukraine. I mean, it has to be the most historical one to be a part of.
Absolutely! How have you been immersing yourself in Ukrainian culture to influence your preparations for the night?
As a mother, I have wanted to help as much as I can by trying to shed light on the fact that it's almost like the Second World War, such as children being sent off and their parents not seeing them again. So that's where my attention has gone. I feel like Eurovision and the music culture of it all will take care of itself. It's so beautiful and rich that that will take care of itself, but where they need help is highlighting the atrocities still.
How is Ukrainian culture going to be incorporated into the show?
Well, the major thing across the board, which the BBC have stressed, and I couldn't agree more, and [Ukrainian singer] Julia Sanina has been backing it up, is that we have to celebrate their joy and their resilience, and how nobody expected them to fight as hard and as passionate and with such pride as they have. And so we are here to celebrate the Ukraine.
Eurovision seems to have gone mainstream in recent years. Why do you think it's having such a moment?
Well, it was so hugely iconic in the times of Terry Wogan, what a legend! I think it couldn't be in safer hands than Graham Norton in terms of that similar vibe. He can say funny things about people, but it's never in a truly snippy way. So they couldn't have gotten that any better. But in terms of a resurgence, I feel like with what's been going on in the world, not just in Ukraine, but COVID and all the rest of it, people are desperate for hands across the water, for joy, for music removing us from where we find ourselves. I think that's why people embrace it more than ever.
Also, it doesn't matter who you are, who you love, what you wear, what colour you are, nothing, who fills your bed, nothing, from day one, but it feels like Eurovision encourages love across the board. And I think that it gives everyone that in spades.
You mentioned hands across the water. Without getting too political, do you think Brexit has had an influence on why it's now so big?
Undoubtedly. I would hope that the other countries see how much the UK still very much wants to be a part of it all. Many of us had voted to remain, and that's all I'll say!
Do you have any anxieties about presenting on the night?
Do you know what? I actually don't. I feel like I've had a baptism of fire presenting the Olivier Awards by myself. I mean, a theatre girl going back to theatre for the first night after ten years, after a 23-year career, both in the West End and on Broadway, that was a baptism of fire! And singing in front of not just your peers, but the assembled glory of the whole of the West End, and people from abroad that had come in for that one night in the Royal Albert Hall, I mean, this I feel like will be a massive celebratory party.
Onto Ted Lasso, which also I'm a huge fan of! Rebecca is such an icon of female power and feminism on the show. What elements of her character do you relate to, and what do you admire about her?
I've made sure that I have a complete and utter 360. You don't know where she ends, and I begin, and vice versa. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel like I was giving enough of myself to play her. I was very keen, when Jason [Sudeikis] and I started developing her, that she'd be exactly the same age as me, so that I could honour not only women, but also men of that age, finding themselves suddenly slapped around the face with divorce, all that kind of infertility, the collapse of relationships, and the feeling of ageing. I wanted to portray her as a never-judge-a-book-by-its-cover to the max. And thankfully, Jason, in particular, but also our entire writer's room, has honoured that.
And I've had an enormous amount of input, even down to my obsession with Rebecca's wardrobe, tailoring, jewellery, makeup looks, hair, and absolutely everything down to what ring she wears on what day. I believe that we are all emotional beings, that one day we feel very different from the next, and there are those little nods to those insecurities and vulnerabilities. So I love that they listen to me and go, "No, that bag's not right for today." A pair of earrings that I would've worn for one thing, I'll go, "Oh, no, can we bring them out again?" Because whoever's really watching will go, "Oh, my God. She wore those when her nervous system was being attacked then as well."
So you clearly do have a hand in her wardrobe!
Fully obsessed and immersed to the point where the costume designer and I go shopping for Rebecca, and we barely even talk. I've also always been obsessed with the fact that I don't want anything to ever look costumed, which is why, for example, most recently, we ran out of my Alexander McQueen dress that I've worn in season two as well, but we put a belt on it there, and we made my hair different. I want her to have a complete wardrobe, an emotional wardrobe is how I describe it.
I feel that the show is inherently very feminist and tackles quite a lot of sexism in society, misogyny, and sports. One thing, in particular, I wanted to ask you about was why do you think Rebecca is so embarrassed about her relationship with Sam, whereas her ex-husband, Rupert, flaunts his new relationship with Bex?
It's not that she's embarrassed, it's that she has been, I think, so indoctrinated by her upbringing, by her relationship with Rupert, by how the press will perceive her and mistake her for something that she isn't. She doesn't want to be misrepresented. I think it's more about that, the turmoil of still giving a sh*t what people think rather than an embarrassment.
I also don't understand the difference between a woman being older and a man being younger and vice versa, I don't understand racism, and I don't understand homophobia. I don't understand those things, why anyone has any time for all that nonsense, and how damaging it is. Because I know two relationships where the woman is a good deal older, maybe 20 years older, two of the most successful relationships I know.
Obviously, sexism is tackled on the show and is rife within society. Can you recall any specific incidents in your career when you've been affected or perhaps overlooked by the mere fact you're a woman?
I would say the only time it was short-lived because, thankfully, my career was galloping at pace. It was a constant thing of, "Oh, no, we'd love to use her, but we've already cast the man. He's 5'8, but we've already cast," and I could never work out whether it was a height thing or whether it was just that I wasn't established enough. But thankfully, in general, been very lucky because I am so tall. In heels, I'm 6'2, so they either want you, or they don't.
Obviously, in showbusiness, women are still held to higher standards regarding physical appearance, and you mentioned your height. How does this affect you, especially when feeling more pressure to look a certain way, the more famous you've become?
I would say not pressured. I am, and will always be, very proud not to be a skinny Minnie. It's just not how I'm built. And I'm a mother, so I'm not a big gym bunny. Women need to celebrate women as much as possible, which is why I always say, yep, I'm more than happy to say I wear Spanx on a red carpet.
More women in the public eye should acknowledge that we may have smoothing stuff on and support-wear. I like things to be immaculately tailored. It's not trying to make me look less curvy because I like being curvy. It's more about me liking to look polished, but I shy away, like hiding Spanx under that blanket before I put them on. No, they'll be out on my dress, ready to put on. I think people just need to be more honest about their process. My daughter's eight. I want her to read an article that says, "Oh, yeah, I did it. I do that."
You've also previously mentioned that your background in theatre has kept your mind and body strong. So how do you keep yourself emotionally and physically strong nowadays?
Well, I was, for a good long while, going to the gym when I could, maybe twice, maybe three times a week. But I haven't done anything at all, not a minute of any fitness, for the last year and a half.
I had a problem with my back, which is now thankfully resolved, but instead of tiptoeing around it and embracing it and strengthening it, it affected my mental health quite badly, but I've come out the other side of it now, and so I need to get back into it. But having been a dancer all my life, pilates, reformer Pilates, and band work, your own weight is great for the female form.
Mental health is obviously a huge, huge theme of Ted Lasso. And you were recently at the White House, with the cast, talking about the importance of mental health. What was that like?
It was amazing, the president and the First Lady couldn't have been more lovely. For those people who wonder whether it was a kind of lovey fest of A-list, overly fortunate nonsense, not at all! There was a brief mutual congratulations on where we all find ourselves, how fortunate we all are, us and them, and the importance of using your platform.
Then we got into it all, such as how much work Dr. Jill Biden does with mental health. We all spoke very candidly and kept the conversation going. So yeah, my God, if you had told me that this show was going to end in the Oval Office, I wouldn't have believed you.
How do you look after your own mental health?
I would say it gets harder and harder the more the focus is on me in terms of tiredness. I think sleep is key, and also very much keeping in touch with those in your life before all the crazy started. They are the same people that I mentioned in my rambled Emmy's acceptance speech. Those key people are the great loves and the great gladiators of my life, and I hope I am to them.
Last question, would you rather be the boss (of a football club) or a WAG?
A boss! I mean, there is not even one molecule of my being that would ever consider being a WAG, either professionally or in real life. Hell, f****** no!
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Final will be broadcast live on Saturday 13 May 2023 at 8pm (BST) on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.
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