Laura Whitmore: I think it’s really important to know your worth and to use your voice in some way

Laura Whitmore: "I’m really impatient. And I’m very loyal and I’m stubborn."

Growing up for me was about spending time with the strong women in my life. I have a great relationship with my dad but in the house, it was just me and my mum. My nanny, my dad’s mum, passed away when I was 10. I was very close to her. She had a flat in Temple Bar, which is where my dad grew up. They were proper Dubs, you could see the Ha’penny Bridge from her window.

I remember moving into our house in Bray. It was a new build with concrete floors. I had my own bedroom in the new house and they had these mirrored wardrobes which I just thought was the coolest thing ever.

I don’t know where I’ll end up in 10 years time or who that person will be. It’ll be still me — but a different version of me — we evolve as people.

The greatest challenge is ‘the juggle’. Life is a juggle, particularly when you’re freelance — so I’m working on three different projects at the moment. I also have a home life and my responsibility to my family. I don’t have a nine to five regular job so it’s really hard to have consistency.

People will be so surprised, especially with the TV stuff when it changes — you think you finish at a certain time and things can overrun by the hours and you’re like; ‘well I have to go to nursery at this time.’

My proudest achievement is my family life and the people around me. What we’ve created is a safe space and I think that’s really important.

Professionally, I’m proud that I will (in as much as I possibly can) always be true to myself, especially starting out as a woman in this industry. It’s still an industry that’s really tough and you’re trying to be moulded in a certain way. I’ve always tried to do as much as I can to change things so it will be better for the next generation, the way other women have done that for me. I’m still working on that.

I can tell you the qualities I don’t like about myself. I’m really impatient. And I’m very loyal and I’m stubborn. I think that’s a Taurean thing.

It’s important to have a circle around you, especially in this industry, where everyone has an opinion on everything. No-one really knows exactly what’s going on except the people within your circle. So that’d be my mother and my friends. If you’re having a s**t day or want to rant, it’s good to have them around you.

If you’re not happy about something, you have to say it and it’s hard, particularly if you don’t feel like you’re in a position to have that power. But we always have some sort of control. Even if you feel like you don’t.

That’s something we can all struggle with because you can be seen to be greedy. I think it’s really important to know your worth and to use your voice in some way. I remember years ago my mum was saying ‘no-one can change your life except you.’

Pic: Dan Kennedy

Where I grew up in Bray, none of my friends or family worked in this industry. My best friends from home — one is a doctor, one is a pharmacist — they’ve all got what we call ‘real jobs’. I didn’t have anyone in telly so when you don’t see it, it’s hard to imagine yourself in it.

My mum would always be supportive of me; she’d say ‘if you’re not in it, like you can’t win it.’ I think that’s a Lotto quote. When I entered auditioned for Pick Me MTV, so many people said; ‘Oh, I would have loved to have won that.’ And I was like ‘did you enter?’

What was that thing Keanu Reeves said when he was asked what happens when we die? ‘Those who love us will miss us.’ I just want to be remembered for doing good, for being good.

I don’t know if I’d change anything about my past. If I hadn’t done stuff, I wouldn’t get to where I am now. You can learn things on the way.

The one thing I would change is making bad food choices. Do you know when you go out for a meal and you don’t pick what you want? And then the person at the next table goes for the tagliatelle and you get food envy?

I think climate change is terrifying. I interviewed the CEO of Greenpeace last year, and he said ‘this is something we’ve been talking about since the 70s’. Greta Thunberg is exceptional, but this is something that our generation and the generation before us knew about.

I’m weird though; my agent thinks it’s really funny but I love getting the Tube. When I get a job and someone offers me a car, I just say ‘no, I’ll make my own way.’ I also just hate sitting in a car, it’s boring. The Brits is coming up and I’ll probably get the Tube there because it’s quicker.

I recently became a pescetarian and I probably in time will become full vegetarian; even just sourcing where your food comes from and how it’s processed relates to climate change. The biggest thing any of us can do for the planet is become vegan but I’m not ready to give up cheese yet.

Life is surprising and no matter what the situation, things can change so quickly. I’ve had friends who hate their jobs and then the next week they have their dream jobs or are stuck in this dead-end relationship and then suddenly are in this other relationship — or single and happy. It’s such a privilege.

I’m interested in so many different things but I think they all have a common thread which is storytelling. I loved forensics actually and I thought I wanted to go down that road at one point because I really liked biology but I hate blood. My husband loves horror films. We have this true crime podcast and I love the backstory, the why, the bits about their childhood and then he’s like; ‘get to the gory bit.’

• The Dare 2b x Laura Whitmore edit launched this month and is available on dare2b.ie and at select Regatta stores nationwide.