The actress who played younger Queen Elizabeth in the earlier seasons of Netflix's series doesn't regret leaving the show as she insists the decision was 'quite healthy.'
- Dec 12, 2023
AceShowbiz - Claire Foy has said she left "The Crown" "for my own sanity." The 39-year-old actress played a younger Queen Elizabeth II alongside Matt Smith, 41, as Prince Philip in the first two seasons of the hit Netflix series about the British Royal Family - for which she won a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards - and although she didn't go into any further details about her exit, she insists it was the "healthy" thing to do.
"I've got a lot of love for the people who are still doing the show, but for my own sanity, I ended the show when I ended it. I let it go and moved on and I think that's quite healthy," she told People.
Claire's Queen popped up briefly in seasons three and four. Olivia Colman, 49, became the queen for seasons three and four before Imelda Staunton, 67, took over and portrayed the monarch for seasons five and six.
"Wonka" star Olivia recently admitted "The Crown" has become "more uncomfortable" to watch as the show has started getting closer to current times. However, she insists she loved her time on the programme and praised showrunner Peter Morgan.
Speaking on "The News Agents" podcast, she said, "I feel uncomfortable answering questions about whether or not The Crown should have stopped before now because I loved the job. It was a great job. I'm not a spokesperson for the Royal Family, don't know them. I can understand, I can feel that maybe it's too close to home now."
Praising her predecessor, Olivia continued, "I haven't watched the new ones yet… The first two with Claire [Foy], I particularly loved because they were historical stuff. I'd say, 'I didn't know that.' I loved that. And it has become more uncomfortable, but Peter Morgan writes beautifully, and I had a lovely time doing the job."
The sixth and final season includes the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, who is played by Elizabeth Debicki. The 33-year-old star recently admitted the pressure and "immense responsibility" of portraying Diana's final days "woke us up in the night."
Asked how seriously they approached the subject matter, she told Entertainment Tonight, "An immense, immense responsibility. It's difficult to describe, it was something that we thought about, that we carried with us, that woke us up in the night." She continued, "We tried our very best to do [the story] properly."
