Dame Helen Mirren – who’s had a long career in the entertainment industry – has learned to embrace her past mistakes as they have helped her become the person she is today.

She told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “I’ve made many, many, mistakes in my life, you know. I turned down projects I should have said yes to, done projects I should have said no to, had relationships with people I shouldn’t have had relationships with, got drunk at times that I shouldn’t have got drunk.

There’s been an endless litany of mistakes and missteps but somehow I’ve stumbled into being in the right place at the right time.”

And one person she doesn’t regret meeting is husband Taylor Hackford, adding: “I very consciously chose my work over my relationships right up to the time that I met Taylor. I was 38 when I met him, pretty late in life.

The great thing about finding a partnership later on in life is that you recognize the partnership level of this relationships as much as the love and the lust and all the rest of it.”

The actress is disappointed that they don’t spend more time together due to a busy career. However, the two recently spent several months together as they were working on two separate films in New York City.

“It was the first time in our professional lives together that we’ve actually been in the same city at the same time, but working on different projects.

So it was great to do what most people get to do, which is come home and say, ‘Hello darling, how was your day?’ That was so rare for us that it was a great experience.”