InsaneJournal

Witch Weekly: Hello.
Wendy Potter: Hello.
WW: Bit closed-mouthed, are we?
WP: (laughing) Well you haven't asked anything yet, have you?
WW: Can we see it? The ring?
WP: (holding it out willingly) That's all you wanted, isn't it? To see the ring.
WW: You've caught us. It's beautiful.
WP: Thank you. I'm rather fond of it.
WW: And I've seen the pictures. You were very lovely.
WP: (laughing) Which ones? From the Prophet or the official ones?
WW: Both, actually. Unfortunately? Regardless, they're very nice.
WP: Thank you. I think that they turned out beautifully. Everyone's so lovely.
WW: How do you feel about the shots that were in the Daily Prophet?
WP: Well, you know, I'm not pleased. That was supposed to be a private moment, you know? It was our first moments together privately, married and I would have rather them have been not made public.
WW: Why'd you change your last name from Roper to Potter? Are you keeping Roper as a stage name?
WP: I'm not, actually! It's sort of difficult to explain, really. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I'm going to share the rest of my life with Harry... it seems only appropriate that I share his name, as well, and not just when we're at home. I like being Wendy Potter. The stage name change won't come until after I'm done with Macbeth, though, in January.

WW: Right, the last we saw of you before all of this was you leaving Gryphon Place. What's been going on?
WP: (laughing) I got married!
WW: (laughing) Well, yes. What I mean is... He proposed... how did he do it? Why'd you decide to marry so soon after the engagement?
WP: It was very sweet, actually, him asking me. It was on our anniversary and he just asked... As for why we made it in December? It was just the right time for us. I mean, there were obviously other factors involved but the truth was it was just the right time for us. And -- we didn't skip out on anything except months and months of preparation. I had so much help. My mother. His, er, sort of adopted mother, Molly Weasley. She's been so much help in just figuring things out. All of our attendants. We had a spectacular wedding planner - Marigold Marriages was wonderful! Parvati was so professional and helped to smooth a lot of things for us.

WW: All right. it's been a busy autumn for you. You were engaged, you left one of the most popular dramas on the wireless, and then it was announced that you were doing a Muggle play - one that's been quite critically acclaimed by the Muggle press, by the way. And then you got married.
WP: Where's the question?
WW: Why all the changes?
WP: It just felt right. I mean, the engagement and getting married, obviously. But as for leaving GP... Merlin. It was a hard decision. I loved playing Thalia. I do miss it. I miss everyone there. But it was time. I grew up in theatre, you know. My parents are actors. It's what I started out in before doing a few things with the BBC and then the WWN after that. And it was time that I moved back to what I really really love doing. And, amazingly, it's even better than I remembered it being.
WW: How's Harry feel about it?
WP: He hates it.
WW: Really?
WP: No, he doesn't. He's very supportive, told me to do what I wanted to do.
WW: Did he help you with your lines?
WP: (laughing) Unwillingly, yes! No, he's quite good with it. I love the Scottish play, and he's... not illiterate, you know? Or uneducated. He just... hasn't read what I read.
WW: What do you read?
WP: (laughing) Books! Oh, I read those silly romance novels. And Shakespeare, naturally. Harry's been reading some of the plays with me. I guess I'm expanding his mind.
WW: What does Harry read, then?
WP: Oh... well. The paper, I reckon. He reads a lot of this Muggle author and I've read a few of them as well. Rather good... Pratchett is his name.

WW: You're very close-mouthed about Harry. Why is that? You've talked in the past about your relationships.
WP: Or lack thereof.
WW: Or lack thereof.
WP: Why don't I talk about him? (long pause) I love him. He's very... very real to me. I think that it's enough that people know that we are together and that we're married. Not everyone needs all the details. Our - our friends, they know things, naturally. But... well. Bless Mrs Smith in Bristol, but she doesn't need to know everything. I don't think she really wants to know, either. If there's a Mrs Smith in Bristol reading this, I apologise for using your name.
WW: So, back to the wedding...
WP: (laughing) All right!
WW: Traditional CofE service?
WP: Yeah, we did that. It just felt right, somehow to do it that way. I mean, neither of us are particularly religious, or at least I'm not. But there was something that was very... very... I can't even explain it. I just felt right.
WW: You and Harry weren't exactly traditional, though, in choosing your attendants.
WP: (laughing) No, we weren't! It was important to us that the people standing with us were our closest friends. And, well, Wayne's been possibly my closest friend for years. So it only made sense to have him stand as my witness.
WW: But Hermione Weasley...
WP: Harry's friend. One of his closest. I mean, I adore Hermione, but she and Harry and Ron have so much history behind their friendship that it was only natural for Harry to ask her to stand with him.

WW: What's your favourite colour?
WP: Purple.
WW: Does Harry know?
WP: Of course he does.
WW: Your favourite food?
WP: Oh... cheese. I love cheese.
WW: Any particular kind?
WP: No, not really. I'll try most any kind. I love going to markets in small little places and seeing what they've got. There's a really good one... I don't know the name, sorry... up where my Mum lives.

WW: Let's talk about your parents.
WP: (laughing) Must we?
WW: In the Muggle press...
WP: You've been doing your homework, haven't you?
WW: I have, yeah! Well, your parents have been in the tabloids a lot in recent years.
WP: Yeah. So've I, for that matter.
WW: How did all of that affect your childhood?
WP: I really don't... It's made it sort of difficult. They were divorced, and that... that has a tremendous affect on a child. Any child. It's not something I like remembering or talking about, to be really honest. I mean, it's all laid out for the world to see.
WW: They divorced and there was the custody battle.
WP: Yeah.
WW: How has their respective re-marriages affected you?
WP: (long pause) Mum re-married first. That was tough, because... well. It was. I mean... There are a lot of things that anyone would find hard to understand, that was one of them for me. It made things a little... tense... between her and I for a long while. But, you know. It's gotten easier. I understand her a little better now and we've talked a lot in the past year. So, you know. It's better. Things are loads better.
WW: Do your parents like Harry?
WP: Oh, yes! It's... it's fantastic, really, how much they all get along. My younger brother and sister adore him, so it's really wonderful.
WW: What about your dad?
WP: What about him? I mean, we get along. We talk. He's going to be a father again, soon. So, you know. It's all very nice.

WW: What's your favourite charity?
WP: Oh... that's a hard one. I mean, there are really so many and all of them are deserving. It's Christmastime and that's a very special time of year. For us, I mean. So, you know, children's charities are very important. Harry said something that's really stuck with me when we were discussing the work that the Ottery St Catchpole Wizarding Primary's doing with St Ignatius's home. He said that everyone deserves a Christmas. And that's a really simple concept at first thought, but it - it really means a lot, you know? It strikes a chord. So we try to do a lot with those sorts of charities at Christmas especially, but also year 'round. Er... there's also animal shelters. Pet shops are all well and good, but there are a lot of animals who are found or abandoned and their stories are so tragic. Every once in awhile I visit a shelter and it nearly breaks my heart. These animals just want a home and it's so hard to not just... just take them all home with me, as much as I really do want to.
WW: Do you and Harry have animals?
WP: (laughing) Yes! Merlin, yes, two dogs and two cats. They're quite brilliant, all of them.

WW: We're almost done.
WP: (laughing)Don't worry, I'm not going to start begging you to hurry.
WW: Are you sure? We've got a few questions from readers.
WP: Oh, all right! Well, ask away!
WW: Right, well, first we have Sadie Timmins from Liverpool, and she wants to know what your favourite plot arch was in Gryphon Place.
WP: Oh, that's easy... (long pause) Or not! (laughing) I don't know, really. I've had so many. I mean, I played Thalia for awhile. I really liked the one we did recently, with her being lost in the Egyptian tomb. Patrick and I had so much fun with that. But I think that the one that was the most poignant for me, personally, was when the writers really had her patch things up a bit with her siblings the year before last. Of course they're back to where they were before now, but that was very sweet. We had a lot of good times with that.
WW: Christina Bertram of North Yorkshire wants to know how you and Harry met, and if it was love at first sight?
WP: (laughing) I was expecting this one! Does she mean a proper meeting or just knowing of one another? Well, we'd met before, through various charity events - black tie things that raise lots of money. But we didn't talk much at those. But it's seems a little silly to say it now, but it's how it happened. Those - those journals are very convenient for people to keep in touch with one another. And I'd commented on... something. I think it was the kitten he'd found and adopted. And it sort of started there, just chatting in the journals and then he asked me to dinner.
WW: You're blushing!
WP: I know! Merlin... But was it love at first sight? I... don't think it was. It was friendship, though. There was definitely friendship, and I was definitely attracted to him! (long pause) All right, enough of that, I think.
WW: I'm sorry about this, and here's the card. It says - (laughing)
WP: It says it's from Mrs Ambrose Smith in Bristol! Oh, the joke's on me! (laughing)
WW: You've a bit of the sight, then? You mentioned a Mrs Smith in Bristol earlier.
WP: Oh, Merlin, no. It's a - well, I was rather rubbish at Divination, in school. What does Mrs Smith ask?
WW: Do you want to have children? Appropriate now, considering the news, yes?
WP: Oh, my. Yes, very appropriate. Well, yes. Someday. I can't imagine - I can't imagine not having children, now. But don't ask me how many or anything like that. I don't know, really.
WW: Okay, from Clare St Marks in Brighton... How do you prepare yourself for a role?
WP: That's an excellent question, actually. Well, wow. Er. Well, let's take the Scottish Play as an example. I'm... well I went over the play, making myself extremely familiar with it. It sounds silly, but I do practise monologues in front of the mirror.
WW: To Harry's amusement?
WP: (laughing) Oh, yes, definitely. I meditate a bit before performances, and even rehearsals, to make sure that I'm in the right frame of mind to even act. If there are videotaped - that's a sort of Muggle thing where you can record people as they talk and how they move - videotaped recordings of really outstanding performances I watch those. So, yeah, a lot of ways. And - and it can be sort of different for every role, because each character is different. I'm sorry, Clare, I don't think that I answered your question very well.
WW: This is from the staff at Witch Weekly...
WP: I'm a little frightened, now!
WW: As you know, Harry Potter is notorious for being distant in public. How is he at home?
WP: He's - he's wonderful. Sort of like how anyone else is at home. He's able to relax and he's just... I don't know. He's just Harry.
WW: And finally, from Jamie Kates in Little Woolster, do you ever wish that you weren't a celebrity?
WP: (long pause) Sometimes. Sometimes, I do. But then I... I look at what I have and what I do, and I love what I do. And... the truth is that I just couldn't not act. It's such a large part of who I am. I don't - I don't think that it's the attention I get, you know? It's the - it's the putting myself into the life of another person for those few hours, and telling a story. That's, really, that's what I do. I tell stories. And part of that, of this life that I lead because I'm compelled by some inner... I don't know. By something, to tell stories... it puts me out there. And I don't always like it and wish that I could be normal. But without the people that make me a celebrity I wouldn't be able to do what I love to do.

WW: Thank you, for sitting down with us.
WP: Thank you for asking me. I've enjoyed it.
WW: Really?
WP: Yeah! It's been fun. I feel like I should send Mrs Smith something now.