Helen Mirren has revealed she much prefers Madonna’s brand of sexuality to the one she’s had to perform in the past.

Earlier in her career, Helen was frequently cast as the “sexy female” but she didn’t find the roles to be sexy at all because the characters were cliché and crude.

She said recently: “The thing that was imposed on me from the outside was crude and vulgar and distressful to me, and disturbing - that big tits, blonde hair, Diana Dors, blowsy kind of thing.”

“I think Madonna got it right. Madonna claimed [her sexuality] for herself, and I’ve always admired her for that.”

“I loved that ‘Sex’ book she did [in 1992]. I thought it was fantastic, because it was a big two fingers up, ‘This is my sexuality, it’s not what you put on me, it’s mine.”