I GAVE UP MY CAREER TO FOCUS on my relationship with Rod Stewart. All the women he's been with since me have more or less given up their careers too because that's the kind of person he is. I turned down some movies when I was with him but there's no point regretting anything.

MY NEW SHOW, BRITT ON BRITT, involves me recounting my life on stage. It's a bit nerve-wracking - there are so many versions of my life already out there. I've never been bold enough to imagine my life would be of interest to anyone except the newspapers.

WATCHING CHARLIZE THERON play me in The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers was unbelievable. She looked exactly the way I would have dreamed of looking in the 1960s. I was pretty but I was short and a bit dumpy. Here was this immensely tall woman - over 6ft tall, thin, elegant - playing me.

THE WICKERMAN IS NOT easy film for me to like because they brought in a body double. Someone told me the story that it was a Glasgow prostitute but I don't know if that's true. Can you imagine how I felt? It was like a slap in the face. They knew I wouldn't do nudity from behind - I'm a very, very shy person and it was bad enough to do it from the front.

I HAVE A VERY MILD FORM OF osteoporosis which has never stopped me from running and jumping. I've skied all my life and roller-bladed. Apparently, someone has discovered that most Scandinavian women have osteoporosis, although they can't work out why.

I MARRIED SLIM JIM PHANTOM of The Stray Cats and got pregnant at 45. I had a young child and a young husband. For us it wasn't a big deal. Jim was an old soul - he never worried about the difference in our ages.

MY MOTTO IS 'GET ON WITH IT' A lot of actors fall by the wayside - we have neuroses and we're depressed. You don't get a job and the phone doesn't ring, so you hit the bottle or take pills, you know ... you kill yourself. But I'm quite resilient.

I'M 65 BUT OLD AGE DOESN'T frighten me. Once you let go of the fear of getting older it's very enjoyable. When you're in your 40s you want to seem like you're 35. We all need to go forward and add numbers to our age. I think when you die nothing happens - that's the end.

I LOVE TO DRINK PINK champagne because of its festive look. It's not because I'm a girly girl - it's just the look of it, you know ... pink. But I only drink it on special occasions. It makes me feel very happy and inspired.

NORTHERNERS SHARE A CERTAIN sense of surviving. It's really tough when it's minus 20 degrees and the snow goes up to your knees. That's how I grew up and that's probably how young Scottish people in certain parts of the country are growing up - there's a kinship between Swedes and Scots.

I'M PROOF THAT YOU CAN GO through life having had broken relationships, as a divorced mother, and having suffered some illnesses and accidents. I think what I have is a tremendous strength. I pursue things and don't give up very easily. It takes a lot of stamina and a lot of discipline and determination to make it as an actor, and the same is true for life.

Britt Ekland performs Britt on Britt during the Fringe at the Assembly Supper Room, Edinburgh.

Interview by Paul Dalgarno