Jamie Dornan has opened up about how the tragedy of his mum Lorna’s death has fuelled his career and is also driving his aim to retire from acting in the next ten years.
He lost Lorna to pancreatic cancer when he was just 16 in 1998 a tragedy that was compounded when a year later four of his school friends were killed in a car accident. These losses made his final years of school grim and understandably hampered his academic success.
It was his mother’s passing in particular though that stoked the fires of ambition in him but for the most heartbreaking reason.
‘I got really driven. I remain really driven to… I don’t know if success is the right word, but just to make something of himself or prove myself maybe.
‘I struggled a lot with that idea of people feeling sorry for me because I lost my mum so young, and I’ve always just felt like I’ve had a point to prove that I’m okay, weirdly,’ he told the Irish Times.
After achieving success in his modelling career which paid the bills while he was struggling in the early days of his acting career to becoming a global sensation in 50 Shades of Grey and subsequently showcasing his talent in projects like Belfast, that point it seems has long been made.
While Lorna’s death made him more determined to succeed, it also taught him a valuable lesson on the importance of making the most of life while you can.
That so, Jamie, who is married to Amelia Warner and has three daughters, has big plans to step back from acting in the coming years.
He said: ‘Within the next 10 years, I would like to think I’d have taken a big step back from acting. I want to have more time on my hands when my body still works and my kids… My mum died at 50.’
Jamie added that he has ‘no interest’ in ‘chasing something’ when he’s in his 60s and 70s and would like to be ‘released’ by then to focus on other things.
Although he plans to step back from work, Jamie’s retirement isn’t imminent and one of the actor’s upcoming projects is a show for Netflix.
He’ll be starring – twice – in The Undertow which is a remake of the Norwegian thriller Twin which sees two siblings lives turned upside down
