Bill Nighy always worries his career will "fall apart".
The 67-year-old actor – who has a daughter, Mary, 32, with former partner Diana Quick – found fame relatively late in life thanks to his role in 2003 movie ‘Love, Actually’ and he wishes he’d known such success would come eventually when he was younger as it would have saved him a lot of stress.
He said: "I always had low expectations. When I was in theatre, I never expected to work in television. I certainly never expected to be in a film.
"But then this film led to a degree of… I’m having difficulty saying the word ‘fame’.
"Had I known things were going to look up in the way they did, I would’ve arranged to be more cheerful in the early years.
"When you’ve got a family and you’re worrying about the mortgage, it would have been nice to know you could relax.
"But even now, I’m not entirely relaxed because you always think this whole thing could just fall apart."
The ‘Their Finest’ star believes there is still a huge gender gap in society but is thankful his filmmaker daughter is going into the industry now as things are slowly changing and "will improve".
He told Red magazine: "Everything is more difficult for a woman. Well, not everything, but lots of areas remain half-open to women, if not closed.
"My daughter is a director and I think, actually, it’s not a bad time for her to start because things will improve.
"It’s ludicrous that we’re even having this conversation. What difference does it make what genitalia you have? It’s insane."
Bill will always feel blessed to have a daughter.
He said: "[Mary] never believed that I wanted a girl because she’d read that men always want sons.
"But, if I could choose, I would absolutely fill the house with women. Why wouldn’t you?"