'I certainly have regrets.' Actor RUPERT EVERETT tells how aging has made him anxious - and the 'terrible thing' he once said that still haunts him

'I certainly have regrets.' Actor RUPERT EVERETT tells how aging has made him anxious – and the 'terrible thing' he once said that still haunts him By Richard Godwin For You Magazine Published: 08:01 BST, 21 September 2024 | Updated: 08:01 BST, 21 September 2024 e-mail View comments Regrets? Rupert Everett has had a few. ‘I always think the idea of no regrets is a bit dishonest, in a way,’ says the 65-year-old actor, taking a sip of rum punch.

‘I wouldn’t change anything. But I certainly have regrets.’ I have come to meet the scandalous star and noted wit at a cocktail bar in Islington, North London , to talk about his new book, The American No , a collection of Hollywood-inspired short stories.

One turns up to cocktails with Rupert Everett primed for weapons-grade gossip and general outrageousness. This is the man who was one of Madonna ’s best friends until he described his dog humping her leg and the icon herself as an ‘old whiny barmaid’ in his memoir R ed Carpets and Other Banana Skins , and she stopped returning his calls. He is the lascivious raconteur who once stood on Byron’s balcony in a Channel 4 documentary and declared: ‘This would be an exquisite location for full sex!’ Coat, John Lawrence Sullivan.

Jumper and trousers, Emporio Armani Frankly, I was rather looking forward to being flirted with, only I find the figure who turns up on a changeable London afternoon rather less cocksure than I was expecting. Everett, dressed in a long overcoa.