Cressida Bonas believes her relationship with Prince Harry has hampered her acting ambitions.
The 29-year-old English actress is desperate to work her way up in the industry but has admitted most people know her for dating the flame-haired prince rather than for her talent and she hates that she’s often "put into a box" and slapped with a stereotype because of her past.
She said: "I have to be really careful what I say because … well, you know … I don’t want to be … I think I’ve said this before anyway, but people like putting people into boxes and into stereotypes, especially in this country and no I don’t think that helps. I think you want to be a blank canvas as an actress but I’d rather not say anything, actually, if you don’t mind because it is kind of in my past and I am so focused on the acting."
Although her acting career is taking off after years of perseverance, her parents, 1960s ‘It Girl’ Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon and entrepreneur Jeffrey Bonas, would rather she get a job that offered more stability and security.
Speaking to The Times newspaper, she explained: "Especially my dad, as he is an academic; he was a history don at Oxford, at Oriel, but not any more. He always wanted me to be a teacher and if I wasn’t acting that’s what I would be doing. And my mum would rather I was doing something more secure and stable. They get nervous coming to watch me on stage, as I imagine I would be as a parent, because it is very exposing. It’s such a brutal industry and they don’t want to see you get hurt."
Meanwhile, following her split from Prince Harry, whom she dated for two years, four years ago, Cressida rekindled her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Harry Wentworth-Stanley.
She explained: "We went out for four years at university and now we are back together. It’s going very well. I don’t want kids yet but definitely one day, yes."
Prince Harry, on the other hand, is now engaged to former ‘Suits’ actress Meghan Markle.