Hannah Waddingham.Photo:John Salangsang/Shutterstock for PEOPLE
John Salangsang/Shutterstock for PEOPLE
Hannah Waddinghamis opening up about a terrible incident that made a lasting impression on her career.
During an appearance onMichelle Visage’s BBC podcast,Rule Breakers, theTed Lassoalum, 49, recalled a defining moment she had when one of her former teachers commented on her appearance.
“I had one drama teacher that said to the whole class: ‘Oh Hannah will never work on screen because she looks like one side of her face has had a stroke,’” she said before sharing that she made promise to herself soon after.
Hannah Waddingham.Axelle/Bauer-griffin/Filmmagic
“I thought, ‘I will do. Come hell or high water, I will work on-screen,’" Waddingham added while admitting that her teacher’s words “gave me a complex for years.”
She explained, “In my Emmys speech, I made a point – the one thing I said to myself [was], if this weird moment comes and I get this award, and I get my foot in this door, I’m going to rip it off its hinges for music theatre people, or theatre people, to follow."
Hannah Waddingham accepts her 2021 Emmy Award.Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty
“This single mum wouldn’t be standing here without you,” she said, before pointing the spotlight at her fellow British stage performers: “West End musical performers need to be on screen more. Please give them a chance cause we won’t let you down.”
On her podcast, Visage supported her longtime friend’s decision to make lemonade out of lemons.
“You could go either one of two ways with that,” she said. “You could either break down and hate your life and be depressed, or you could rise up and do what you did and accept ‘Oh I actually, I’m gonna show you.’"
“But that says more about that teacher saying that to a child with stars in their eyes,” theRuPaul’s Drag Racejudge added.
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source: people.com
