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Charlotte Rampling: Facts And Challenges In The Life Of The Oscar-Nominated Actress

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:15 PST, Feb 1, 2016

Charlotte Rampling has been nominated for the Best Actress award for her role in 45 Years.

The talented actress is no doubt enjoying the accolades that have come her way, but this success hasn’t come without its share of difficulty. One fact about the actress that perhaps few fans know is that she has been plagued with a life of depression. Charlotte Rampling once opened up in an interview with the Independent.

“I know what it is to be depressed. I’ve had severe depression. So if you start to close down, then you know that coming out of that ‘closing down’ takes so long. I don’t have the time to do that any more, so I have to keep awake.”

She also revealed that her depression comes from fear.

“This is where you go into depression, because you can’t move, because you’re so frightened. You don’t know what you’re frightened about. Nobody’s threatening you but actually everything is threatening you. You need to get to a point where fear is useful; fear is very useful. Fear is a great motor. It’s the greatest motor. The greatest things are done through a sense of adrenaline-fuelled fear, I think. Ask a racing driver just before he’s about to start driving what he feels.”

There are some facts from Charlotte Rampling’s life that are very intriguing. The first of these is that her father, Godfrey Rampling, was an Olympic gold medalist in the 4×400 meter event.

But perhaps even more significant was the suicide of Charlotte Rampling’s sister, Sarah, at the age of 23. Rampling and her sister were very close, and Rampling told the Telegraph that she went through a very dark time.

“The big difference in my life at that time was the tragic event. I was 20 when it happened. All that happened afterwards was done with a very different kind of energy, and perspective. Everything changed.”

She went on to say that she had to move away from comedy and do work that had substance.

“I could have carried on in comedy. But my life was dark. I wasn’t going to be jumping around doing futile entertainment, I had to do something with some kind of substance and value, so I could at least say to myself I was serving my dead sister in a way.”

Charlotte Rampling also revealed that she once attempted to keep a diary, but that she was horrible at it. She was inspired by her mother’s diaries, which were returned to her by an antiquities person, along with some other personal things of her father’s.

“My mother’s incredible diaries, which she’d written from when she was 21, and even before that. She fell in love with my father when she was 12. In the diary, Mum was always so happy. I couldn’t believe it. Everything was happiness or passionate longing in anticipation of something wonderful that would happen. I think they actually had a fantastic life. They would travel and go on trips, and it would always seem like a dream. Perhaps it was. Perhaps it’s what she actually lived…”

It is wonderful to know her mother led a happy life, despite the difficulties Charlotte Rampling and her sister have lived with. Recently, Rampling has come under fire for her comments about Oscar diversity. Deadline reports that she recently told French radio that perhaps the whole situation is racist to whites. She since apologized for her remarks but not before being ripped apart on Twitter and throughout the media.

“I regret that my comments could have been misinterpreted this week in my interview with Europe 1 Radio. I simply meant to say that in an ideal world every performance will be given equal opportunities for consideration. I am very honored to be included in this year’s wonderful group of nominated actors and actresses. Diversity in our industry is an important issue that needs to be addressed. I am highly encouraged by the changes announced today by the Academy to diversify its membership.”

Good luck to Charlotte Rampling in her bid for the Best Actress award this year!

[Photo by Clemens Bilan/Getty Images]

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