Helen Mirren Opens Up About Becoming A Dual Citizen: 'It Was So Moving'

Helen Mirren takes pride in having dual citizenship in Great Britain and in America.

In a new interview with People, the 76-year-old actress opened up about the moment she knew she legally wanted to become an American citizen.

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“My husband [Taylor Hackford] is American. My stepchildren are obviously American. My nephew lived in America, worked in America,” Helen says. “So I had certainly been an American resident for a very long time.”

She adds, “When I understood, which I hadn’t quite grasped before, that I could be a British citizen and an American citizen — because I would not like to give up my British citizenship — then I thought, ‘Well, that’s great. That’s the perfect world.’”

Helen then opened up about how moving it felt becoming a citizen of the country: “I didn’t realize how profound a feeling it would be. It brought up feelings of patriotism that I didn’t think I had. I think it was to do with the intrinsic generosity of America.”

She also recalls living in New York City during the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

“I saw the second tower come down,” she says. “I had an epiphany. I realized where my allegiance and my heart and my intellect lay in that confrontation between extremism, religiosity — all those things and everything that America represents. And I thought, ‘I’m an American.’ I got an American flag, and I put it outside my window.”

Just recently, Helen opened up about the backlash over her portraying a Jewish leader in her new movie.