Helen Mirren: Why I'm Glad I Found Love In My Late 30's

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Oprah Winfrey Network

Single ladies rejoice, for arguably one of the sexiest women on the planet did not find "the one" until well into her 30's.

Oscar winner Helen Mirren tells Oprah Winfrey in the newest issue of O Magazine that she's glad she didn't get into something serious until a little later in life.

"I used to say to [American director] Taylor [Hackford], 'I wish we'd met earlier on. We've missed so much time together,'" the 68-year-old actress recalls. "And he'd say, 'We'd never be together now if we met earlier.' And I think he's actually right because we were both on a trajectory of work and ambition and, of course, to a certain extent, wanting to resolve ourselves as ourselves."


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The couple may have met in 1986, but they did not wed until Dec. 31, 1997, on Hackford's 53rd birthday. "Before I met Taylor, all my relationships took second place to my work," she admits. "If I had to go to Africa, it was 'Bye-bye, I'm off to Africa.' And then he came into my life, and I started thinking, Maybe it’s time to have a different attitude – and to say that my relationship is at least as important as my work. To give it the time."

Hackford and Mirren met on the set of White Nights. This is the one and only marriage for the actress, and the third for Hackford, who has two children from previous relationships. Mirren's new film The Hundred-Foot Journey opens August 8.