Playing the role-model role

Instead she declared herself 8220;rather pissed off8221; with the new Minister for Women. 8220;It8217;s very nannyist,8221; Thompson said. 8220;I wasn8217;t asked if I8217;d be a role model. I found out when a friend rang me to jeer at me. My immediate response was an overwhelming desire to go out and score a load of cocaine in rebellion. Because when I was young my role models were Mick Jagger and Marlon Brando.8221;

The double Oscar-winner suggested single mothers would be a better influence for young girls. 8220;If Baroness Jay wants to create rolemodels she should focus on single mothers 8212; they8217;re our brave heroines.8221; And unlike Lady Jay, who said that 8220;feminism is seen as negative, complaining about things8221;, Thompson declared herself proud to be a feminist. 8220;I8217;ve always called myself a feminist,8221; she said. 8220;I count myself privileged in that I8217;ve benefited from it. I associate it with liberty and a struggle to evolve an equality within social status.8221;

The Cabinet Office insisted it had always made clear that Thompson had not yet been approached but the actress was the sort of person that the Government had in mind. Lady Jay herself described the plan to attract famous women as 8220;exaggerated8221;. Other candidates for the group included the former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and the latest teenage pop starlet, Billie.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: 8220;We are sorry if Emma Thompson doesn8217;t consider herself a role model. Her name was raised by the media as one of a number of successful women who could be role models for teenagegirls.8221;

8212; The Observer News Service