Sienna Miller recalls “incredibly aggressive” battle with paparazzi

Sienna Miller stars in a career-defining role in American Woman.

Credit: Getty

Celebrity


Sienna Miller recalls “incredibly aggressive” battle with paparazzi

By Kayleigh Dray

5 years ago

“There’s a whole six weeks of that experience that I don’t remember,” recalls Sienna Miller. “I was in so much shock over it all.”

Sienna Miller is a very busy woman right now. Not only is she promoting her new film Wander Darkly, a potent romantic drama set for release on digital and on demand services later this week, but she’s also filming Netflix’s Anatomy Of A Scandal, a six-part series based on the international bestselling 2018 novel by Sarah Vaughan.

Speaking about her successful acting career, though, Miller has said that her incredible work ethic was born from a very difficult time in her life.

“There was so much noise that it was hard to think straight and focus on my work, which I always took very seriously,” she tells The Daily Beast.

“It ate everything else. I look back on it and wonder how I did get through it – but I did.”

Miller is, of course, referring to the tabloids’ obsession with her after then-fiancé Jude Law cheated on her in 2005.

At the time of the scandal, Miller was performing in a production of Shakespeare’s play As You Like It on the West End. Despite everything going on, though, she made sure to get up on that stage and perform every single night.

“That was one of the most challenging moments I hope I’ll ever have to experience,” she explains. 

“Because with that level of public heartbreak, to have to get out of a bed let alone stand in front of 800 people every night, it’s just the last thing you want to do.”

Sienna Miller

Credit: Getty

Miller, describing the level of press intrusion, adds: “It was at the height of all that paparazzi madness, and in London where there was an epidemic of bad behavior. They knew where I would be every night.

“There’s a whole six weeks of that experience that I don’t remember… I was in so much shock over it all.”

In 2011, Miller became the first celebrity to settle her claim against News Group Newspapers, receiving £100,000 after her phone was tapped and private details regarding her relationship with Law.

“It was incredibly aggressive,” she says of the experience.

And, in a separate interview about her “toxic” battle with the tabloids, Miller adds: “I couldn’t function in that world. It was impossible to live a life and tolerate that. So I sued them and got this law changed, a harassment law against paparazzi.

“If I’m in London, where I’m going tonight, I can expect privacy. Rupert Murdoch hacked my phone, and I could have settled out of court and made that private, but I didn’t, because it was wrong.

“When pushed, I will fight back.”

Hear hear!

Images: Getty

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