The awareness of being different came gradually: the shouts of "ginger" and "copper top" were funny at first, and as a young child I felt proud of being a bit special.
There came a time, though, when I wanted to look like everybody else. The freckles - I hated them! Girls would laugh at my spotty arms and legs, and however much my parents told me that Hollywood stars were sitting under perforated umbrellas to achieve the same look, I knew they were lying.
Showbiz has always been reasonably tolerant, so I may have been affected less than some by redhead prejudice - although casting for commercials as recently as 15 years ago would stipulate "no blacks, no redheads".
But we're tough and I don't mean just psychologically. A clinical trial proved that redheads need a fifth more anaesthesia than everybody else to achieve the same state of numbness. A bit more respect is definitely in order.
If you ask any redhead they undoubtedly all will have been teased as a kid to some extent. I was - "carrot top", "Duracell", "copper top", you name it I've had it.
But I love being a redhead. I think the colouring - particularly on women - is very beautiful, very sexy. And being a redhead I guess we do feel different because we are quite rare as opposed to the other colourings.
I would say we are a bit different: some redheads are eccentric; some of them are plain mad. Because most redheads, as I said, are picked on they think "fuck you" I'm going to get on and be someone.
A lot of us do have that bullish get up and go and have the sense that nothing's going to hold them back - I was definitely like that, and still am.
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