Jude Law's mother 'felt he needed protecting'

Jude Law has revealed how his mother tried to protect him from the pressures of fame and success.

The 51-year-old actor enjoyed a meteoric rise in the late 90s and early 2000s, when he starred in movies such as 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and 'Road to Perdition', and Jude has now recalled how his mother tried to shelter him from the spotlight.

The London-born star told Variety: "Here’s an interesting insight ... I remember having a conversation with my mother, who said something that I look back on now. She said something like she had to ‘share me’ now. And I think what she meant by that was there was suddenly a sense of people knowing who I was and reaching out to her. She felt like there was a loss of privacy, of intimacy, that needed protecting."

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Jude was named PEOPLE magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2004, and the actor used to feel frustrated by his sex symbol status.

He explained: "Interestingly, I was talking about this to a friend. He made a good point.

"He said, ‘If you were a woman, people would have been told off for objectifying you.’ I think it frustrated me because I was this young guy desperately keen to have an acting career and for people to talk about that, as opposed to what I looked like."

Jude has enjoyed success as a film and TV actor, and he remains hopeful that the two platforms can co-exist successfully.

Reflecting on the current landscape of the entertainment industry, Jude said: "I hope one doesn’t kill the other. I’m just a fan of going to the cinema. It would be catastrophic if one ate the other."