Helen Mirren fears Facebook

Dame Helen Mirren is scared of Facebook.

While she has starred alongside several Hollywood greats and even portrayed Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, one thing she can’t come to terms with is social media.

“I went on Facebook for about 24 hours… but I found very rapidly - literally within 24 hours - that I just found it so intrusive and I didn’t want strangers wanting to become my friends. I just didn’t want that. There was something really scary about it and I didn’t like it at all,” Helen told the UK edition of Hello! Magazine.

The Oscar winning actress’ career is very much keeping up with the times, but Helen finds modern social media in general to be "distasteful" and would rather stay away from it. She does, however, admit that she is a big fan of technology and would love to live for another 150 years to see it advance.

“It’s mesmerising and exciting,” Helen said, “I like GPS - don’t you find GPS the most miraculous thing' - and barcodes, I can’t get over barcodes; when they swipe something and it knows that it’s a can of baked beans. How does it know' It’s incredible”.

In her new film The Hundred-Foot Journey, Helen plays the French owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant, whose new Indian neighbours open an eatery across the street. For someone considered the embodiment of Englishness, Helen had to step into the shoes of a French woman for her new part. But she didn’t seem to mind - taking on the role meant she got to “pretend [she] was a French actress for the first time in [her] life”