Laura Whitmore: ‘For my own mental health, it's good to have boundaries'
After completing her last play 2:22 A Ghost Story, Laura Whitmore was determined to take a break.
The TV presenter and actor had been in the West-End staging, and then switched roles when the production went on tour to Ireland. It was a demanding and busy period. 'And then I did a play in London again and I said I am not doing any more plays for a while.'
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Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
Laura Whitmore: ‘For my own mental health, it's good to have boundaries'
From live TV to treading the boards on the West End, the Wicklow presenter's career pivot has taken critics by surprise. Here, she talks about parenthood, boundaries and how a new generation of women are changing celebrity culture After completing her last play 2:22 A Ghost Story, Laura Whitmore was determined to take a break. The TV presenter and actor had been in the West-End staging, and then switched roles when the production went on tour to Ireland. It was a demanding and busy period. 'And then I did a play in London again and I said I am not doing any more plays for a while.'
Extra.ie
4 days ago
- Extra.ie
US Vice President JD Vance, Jeremy Clarkson and Cotswolds villagers in holiday annoyance
US Vice President JD Vance who is holidaying with his family in the UK this week, has been in a spot of bother with the people of the Cotswolds, where he has been staying, in an area quite close to the farm belonging to ex Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson is said to have been very annoyed over the visitors proximity to his property, as because of the level of security required for the US Vice President – Clarkson was not allowed to fly drones over his farm to film parts of the next episodes of the hugely successful series Clarksons Farm. The United States Secret Service descended upon the sleepy Oxfordshire village of Dean in their droves last week, closing off roads and checking the IDs of locals trying to access the village, all the while dressed down in blue t-shirts and cream chinos, as if trying to blend in with their surroundings. FAIRFORD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 13: U.S. Vice President JD Vance addresses U.S. troops and their families in front of a Lockheed U-2 nicknamed the 'Dragon Lady', during a visit to RAF Fairford on August 13, 2025 in Fairford, England. U.S. Vice President JD Vance is making the visit to American troops from the United States Air Force's 501st Combat Support Wing and the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron based at RAF Fairford. The visit comes as Vance and his family are spending part of their summer vacation in nearby Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds. (Photo by) However, the 20 strong motorcade of bullet-proof vehicles following the VP around everywhere he went, caused chaos in the tiny villages and towns around Dean, one of the most beautiful and picturesque areas of Great Britain, renowned for its chocolate box houses, leafy lanes and very slow pace of life. JD Vance, his wife Usha, and their three children, Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, have been enjoying the glorious summer weather this past week, but have not escaped the ire of the locals in and around the village of Dean, who found their lives disrupted, being stopped by the Secret Service and asked for ID when popping to the corner shop for milk. FAIRFORD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 13: US Vice President JD Vance meets with U.S. troops and families during a visit to RAF Fairford on August 13, 2025 in Fairford, England. (Photo by) In fact the Vice President has been labelled 'a bit of a mouth' by one local after holidaying with his family in an English country manor this week. JD Vance also caused uproar when he went fishing with the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, without having a licence to fish that particular stretch of water. His office called the faux pas, an 'administrative error'. The massive security operation that comes with having such a high-profile guest in the area, plus Mr Vance's very outgoing and outspoken nature, has not gone down well with some locals, Another resident said that, 'a lot of people are not particularly keen on Trump unfortunately, and I think because of that, a lot of people are going to see the vice president coming here as a bad thing.' SEVENOAKS, ENGLAND – AUGUST 8: U.S. Vice President JD Vance fishes with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy at Chevening House on August 8, 2025 in Sevenoaks, England. US Vice President JD Vance and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy are meeting for an official bilateral discussion at Chevening House, the Foreign Secretary's Grade I-listed summer residence near Sevenoaks in Kent, where Lammy is hosting the Vance family for the start of their UK holiday. Vance's itinerary is expected to also include a stay in the Cotswolds and a visit to Hampton Court Palace, and comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump vacationed in Scotland. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett –) Mr Vance also used his visit to the UK to meet members of the US military at RAF Fairford – where the United States Air Force's 501st Combat Support Wing and the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron are currently stationed. During the visit he addressed the troops and it's believed he even ordered in McDonalds burgers for everyone on the base, as requested by the soldiers. Speaking about the UK he said 'This is a beautiful country – I've had some downtime with the family and we've had a very good time here in England – the United Kingdom is of course one of our great allies'. Cotswolds town Bourton-on-the-Water, United Kingdom. (Photo by) Mr Vance and his family, along with his massive security team and motorcade of 20 vehicles have made their way to Scotland where he is set to continue his family holiday. Which will come as a relief to Jeremy Clarkson, and the villagers who have seen their lives disrupted by the American visitors, but can now go back to that picture-perfect idyllic way of life in the Cotswold hills.
RTÉ News
09-08-2025
- RTÉ News
Laura Whitmore: 'Life happens very quickly'
Laura Whitmore stars in the latest stage adaptation of The Girl on the Train, which is based on the hugely successful thriller by Paula Hawkins. John Byrne catches up with her ahead of the Irish leg of the show's tour Who is Laura Whitmore? Or - more to the point - what is Laura Whitmore? As well as doing stuff mere mortals also do - like falling in love and having children - she's also something of a one-person entertainment industry. She's a successful radio and television broadcaster best known for hosting on MTV and the Bafta-winning Love Island, the I'm A Celebrity spin-off show, Celeb Juice, and her own breakfast show on ITV. She launched the documentary series Laura Whitmore Investigates in 2023 and is currently working on a new documentary series, Britain's Killer Teens. That's about as far removed from Love Island as it can get. Also: she currently hosts BBC Podcast, Murder They Wrote alongside Iain Stirling, aka her husband. Not content with all of that, in March 2021 she released her first book, the best-selling No One Can Change Your Life Except For You. Oh yeah, Laura's also an actor. She trained at the Leinster School of Music and Drama, studied Shakespeare at RADA and has worked on stage as well as the small and big screens. She wrote and starred in the award-winning short film Sadhbh, toured in Peter James' Not Dead Enough, and has several film/TV acting credits to her name. In 2022 she made her West End debut as Jenny in 2.22: A Ghost Story and returned home to play Lauren in its Dublin run in 2024. Now she's on her way back to the Irish stage - two of them actually; the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin and Cork's Everyman Theatre - to perform in the smash-hit production of The Girl on the Train. The gripping thriller, based on the internationally acclaimed number one best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins, sees Laura star as the show's central character, Rachel Watson. Catching up with Whitmore ahead of the show's arrival here, the obvious first question is about her outrageously versatile career . . . John Byrne: Hi Laura. I have to say that I read your CV earlier and there was so much there I had to lie down afterwards. I was exhausted. You're obviously a highly motivated individual . . . Laura Whitmore:"It doesn't feel like work, if you love what you do. And I've been lucky to have quite a variety . . . which makes life not boring. And I think, once I feel excited and I feel challenged, that's always been really important to me. "Sometimes I'm better off not thinking (laughs) how am I going to get through next week? That's my mindset. I get really excited by everything that I've done so far and everything I still have to do." Is this all part of a plan, or do you just do whatever you fancy next - or is it maybe a bit of both? "I have a masterplan . . . Honestly, things change as well. When I first started in television, doing Pick Me MTV, and doing the auditions for that, and getting the MTV gig. That was just a year's contract, which ended up becoming seven years. "Then I went to do ITV stuff and radio, and the BBC. But the landscape changes constantly. One of the most consistent things is I do a BBC podcast. And, to be honest with you, I think I'd always prefer radio over a podcast, but actually at the moment I prefer podcasting because it pays better (laughs), and I can record it from anywhere in the world. "And we've got our own audience that we've created ourselves, rather than being the host of a particular show that already exists. You create your own space. I find the world fascinating, how it's constantly changing. And then there's a lot of things that I've always loved to do. "Anyone who knows me - like all my ex-school friends, when they see me coming back to Dublin to do a play - says: 'This is you! This is you!' Life happens very quickly, but I've always had these things that I wanted to do." The Girl on the Train - you read the book and now you're in the play. That must be quite a buzz? "I was a huge fan of the book when it first came out. And the character of Rachel, and [the author] Paula Hawkins, who I met this year. She's written this beautiful - beautifully flawed - character, who I think anyone in the acting world would jump at to play, because there's so much to her. "I've done a bit of acting before. I've done a few roles for telly, and some films, and theatre before - but this one in particular . . . there's just so much on the page. "She goes on such a journey that I'd be mad to turn it down, because I think it's really challenging. And it's scary. But I feel there's so much there that you have, if you give it the time. And I've been doing it for a few weeks over the UK. "I might have been the person who suggested it coming to Ireland (laughs). I had a feeling that the Irish audiences will - I hope - love it. The book did really well over in Ireland. "And I think what the director Loveday Ingram and the whole creative team, the people who worked on the stage screenplay, have created is a beautifully adapted version for the stage." Turning a novel into a play makes it a very different experience for an audience - people who've read the book saw the story unfold through their mind's eye . . . "The question I'm most asked is 'How do you get a train on the stage?' (laughs) It's very cleverly done. There's a lot of lighting; there's a lot of movement. You feel immersed in it. It's very stylised. It's very minimal. It's a minimal set. There's not a lot to it. "But you don't have a second to think, because it's constantly moving. And it really represents what's going on inside this character Rachel's head. "I'm so proud of it. I think it's so clever. I wish I could take credit for the production side of it. I can take credit for my version of Rachel, but I can't take credit for the production. But I think it is very clever and that people will love it." You've played around the UK, but will it feel a bit different for you when the time comes to play Dublin and Cork? These are your own people - you know what we're like! "The aunties will be there, John. My aunties will be there. The real judges! I think Irish people have a high standard when it comes to theatre. And I look at some of the people who have graced our stages. "I actually spoke to someone about this recently - because I do a lot of presenting, and I present TV shows in front of millions of people, and I presented at Wembley and big things - but theatre is particularly intimidating. You can practically hear people breathing. They're that close. "You're very vulnerable - but then you have the joy of being vulnerable as a character. So that almost lets your guard down a little bit more." And you kind of play a character when you're presenting, I'd imagine? Maybe a larger than life version of yourself? "Especially on different shows. I've hosted everything from Love Island and I'm a Celeb, MTV and documentaries. And obviously, the Love Island version of Laura . . . it's still Laura - but it's very different to the documentary-making version of Laura." For another example, you've Britain's Killer Teens coming up on TV in September. There's a totally different tone required for that, as opposed to, say, Love Island. "And it's also very real. "A lot of these families have gone through real-life trauma and it's very hard. But it's also really important issues that I feel strongly we should be talking about. And I admire anyone who is willing to put themselves out there and talk about something so raw and emotional. "Sometimes it's a similar skill set, in some ways, but I love having time with people. Some of the shows I've worked on in the past, you don't have time to kind of talk . . . "We live in a world where everything is like, 'That has to fit into an Instagram page', or go a certain direction, and I love being able to have time to get to know much as you can."
