BalanceOctober2016 - 21
T H E B I G I N TERVIEW
Make-up free, and with her hair pulled back, Naomie Harris
draws admiring glances as she walks towards the table where
we're unexpectedly having lunch alfresco, thanks to last
month's heatwave. Accompanied by her mum, Carmen (who
looks more like her sister), she greets me like an old friend
and, being typically English, we immediately start discussing
the virtues of the great British weather.
For someone who has just arrived from
Toronto, via Los Angeles, and says jet-lag is her
enemy, Naomie, who recently turned 40, looks
incredible. 'That's down to a flotation tank,'
she says. 'I've discovered that the only way to
combat the effects of travelling is to immerse
myself in a dark pod, filled with salt water
and float for an hour.
'It's all about sensory deprivation and
works a treat. I go straight there from the
airport, but my dream is to have my own
tank at home. That's what keeps me working!'
Carmen's tried it too but can't attest to its
success in quite the same way. 'Mum
had a freak-out in there,' laughs Naomie.
'She was screaming, "I don't like it, I don't
like it," but half an hour later people had to
bang on the door because she'd fallen asleep!
I've never done that!'
Carmen and Naomie often come as a pair
and live on the same street. 'We are very close,'
Naomie says. 'There's not much I wouldn't
pass by mum first - and I have a lot to be
thankful to her for.'
TOP OF THE CLASS
Naomie's father left the family home before
she was born, so it was down to Carmen to raise
her daughter alone. Times were tough, but so
was Carmen, and being surrounded by strong,
powerful women in the family, brought out the
very best in Naomie.
'I grew up to believe anything was possible
if you worked hard enough,' she says. 'Mum
has always had a very strong work ethic; she's
penned a prime-time BBC1 sitcom [Us Girls]
and worked a 10-year stint as a core writer
for EastEnders, among many other projects,
so I've always known I had to work if I wanted
to be independent.'
She continues: 'I went to school in Finsbury
Park and was always top of my class, but by the
end of my GCSEs, I was ready to go into acting
full-time. It was mum who convinced me to do
my A-Levels and although I went to Sixth Form
College begrudgingly, it was while I was there
.
.
.
P
E
E
L
S
N
O
that I met Mr Murdoch, a wonderful teacher,
who told me I had the potential to go to
Oxbridge.' And it turned out he was right.
But despite being immensely proud of
being there, it was a very different environment
to the one she'd been used to.
'My school had been like the United Nations
- there were all different races - so I'd never felt
colour was an issue. But at Cambridge, I was
the only black person in the year.
'Looking back, though, my colour wasn't the
issue; it was my class that made me feel like an
outsider.' They talked about Eton and skiing,
which was a million miles away from her
childhood in north London.
Nevertheless, she refused to give up and stuck
it out for three years until she got her degree.
'I was always told, "don't see obstacles;
see where you want to get to and ignore
everything else. If other people have issues,
let them be their issues." It was invaluable
advice and I still apply it today.'
LIVING IN THE MOME NT
'Sleep doesn't
come easily to
me... I have
too much of an
active mind that
never seems to
want to switch
off, so the only
way I can get
off to sleep
is by using a
meditation app.
I've found a
really good one
by Glenn Harrold
and it works
every time, but
invariably I'm
awake again a
few hours later
and have to go
through the
entire process
again! I need
eight hours
a night and I
probably get it
overall, but it's
very erratic. One
of my greatest
hopes is to be
able eventually
to sleep through
the night.'
BALANCE October 2016
But these days, having starred in Pirates Of
The Caribbean and as (M's secretary) Miss
Moneypenny in the two most recent Bond
films, Naomie is a Hollywood A-lister, you'd
imagine has very few obstacles in front of her.
'I still struggle with the same challenges
everyone else does,' she insists. 'There is so
much going on in my life that I find myself
in constant high-stress mode, so I'm always
looking to find ways to overcome that
feeling. We're all human and will always
have challenges thrown at us, but it's how we
perceive those challenges that we can control.
'I used to find it so difficult to enjoy each
moment, preferring to look impatiently to the
future to see what was next. But I'm learning to
appreciate it is the now that's important. Every
moment is a gift, even the negative ones, so
be as thankful when things go wrong as when
they go right, as that may well take you on a
different path that is ultimately better for you.'
It is clear to see Carmen, who now has a
healing practice in London and has written a
self-help book entitled Sh*t Happens... Magic
Follows (£15.99, O-Books), has instilled a
spiritual empathy in her daughter which she
relies on in times of stress and conflict.
'There are certainly techniques I implement
when I feel under fire,' says Naomie. 'At the
moment, I'm practising Emotional Freedom
Techniques (EFT) and I meditate for at least an
hour every morning. It's been the best thing;
it centres me and brings me back into the here
and now. I feel utterly joyful afterwards and
21
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BalanceOctober2016
BalanceOctober2016 - 1
BalanceOctober2016 - 2
BalanceOctober2016 - 3
BalanceOctober2016 - 4
BalanceOctober2016 - 5
BalanceOctober2016 - 6
BalanceOctober2016 - 7
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