Fiona Shaw interviewed in Stylist Magazine
Friday, 27th November 2009
Fiona Shaw’s interview for Stylist’s “Real Life” feature, November 2009
“In my teens, those typcial, hormonally-charged, powerful feelings of lust were directed at boys, just like most of the other girls at school. I began my first foray into dating at 15 and, for the next 25 years, all of my partners were men.
Looking back, though, I think I always had a latent desire for girls. I was aware they had a powerful pull on me and I had a few crushes on older women through school and university, but I never challenged what that might mean. I was young, with influential peers who all subscribed to a ‘traditional’ code, and I was happy to fit in.
When I first met my ex-husband Hugh, I was 20. He was a 36-year-old tutor at university where I was studying literature, and I was deeply impressed by his intelligence. We began spending a lot of time with each other. My father had just died unexpectedly and my head was very mixed up. It was a great relief to talk to Hugh – he was mature, and not embarrassed by me airing any of the confusing feelings I was experiencing. I fell deeply in love with him . . .”
Read the rest of Fiona’s story about falling in love with a woman after being married to a man for 15 years – which partially inspired the plot of her “elegant, subtle and haunting” novel Tell it to the Bees – in the online edition of Stylist magazine.
