Wuthering Heights director Emerald Fennell believes she would’ve gone “quite quickly off the rails” in London as a teenager if she hadn’t attended boarding school.
Emerald Fennell believes she would’ve gone “off the rails” as a teenager if she hadn’t attended boarding school.
The Wuthering Heights director has recalled going to boarding school aged 13, during which time she was an insomniac, and while she looks back now and thinks it was a “very good idea” for her to leave London and live at school at that time, it could be a “lonely” experience.
Speaking on Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast, she said: “I went to boarding school at 13.
“It actually was, I think, probably a very good idea.
“I think I would have gone quite quickly off the rails in London. Even I knew that even as a child.
“So, even though I was homesick and I did love my family, and as an insomniac at boarding school it’s quite lonely being in a room full of people awake when everyone’s asleep, I think it was probably a more wholesome scenario than if I’d stayed in London.”
While the Saltburn director struggled to sleep at boarding school, she thought the food was “fine” and particularly enjoyed chowing down on toast and chips.
Asked what the food was like, she said: “It was a lot of toast, and I love toast.
“I’d been brought up on the ready meal, so I was just like delighted if there were chips for every meal.
“I mostly grew up on carbohydrates, which was absolutely fine by me.
“It was only when I hit 18 and realised you actually can’t eat 5,000 calories worth of carbs every day, I was like, ‘No, this diet isn’t sustainable.’ “
Despite trying to refrain from eating too many carbs, Emerald loves to eat toasted cheese sandwiches nowadays, and she is “obsessed with foods”.
Quizzed on whether there is a food scene in her forthcoming film Wuthering Heights – which she directs and wrote the screenplay for – she added: “Oh yes. There are so many food scenes. I’m obsessed with foods.
“There are eggs in this new film. There are eggs. There’s jelly.”
Ruthie’s Table 4 can be listened to via all major podcast platforms.
Emerald Fennell: I would’ve gone off the rails if I hadn’t attended boarding school
