Actor Samantha Morton has issued a public apology for threatening a young girl with a knife when she was 14 years old.
The Walking Dead star said she wanted to “set the record straight” in an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
In the interview, she said she was “incredibly sorry” about the incident, for which she was charged with attempted murder.
She spent three nights in solitary confinement in an adult cell block, and was eventually convicted of the lesser charge of threats to kill.
Morton, who spent her childhood between care homes and foster families in Nottingham, had confronted an older girl who had been bullying at the care home where they both lived.
She first spoke about the incident in 2009, in an interview with The Guardian, where she explained that there was a riot, the care home was on fire, and the police were already on the scene when she picked up a knife and threatened to kill the girl.
“I was mortified,” Morton said on Desert Island Discs. “And I’m sorry to her. We were all abused. She was a child herself. Nobody looked after us properly. We were rioting in that home because they were locking the fridges at night. We were not safe.”
Morton said she had returned to the care home one night after a rave, at which she had taken drugs, when she saw a nine-year-old boy whom she believed had been “pimped” by the older girl.
“I snapped and said I was going to kill her,” Morton said. “I didn’t harm her, I didn’t touch her, but I said those words. And I regret it and I am sorry.”
Morton confirmed she had still been living in care homes when she got her big break as an actress, on TV drama Peak Practice in 1994, fittingly playing "a runaway", she joked.
She said she now feels “absolute forgiveness” and thinks the majority of those working in the care system in the Eighties were admirable.
Morton received an Oscar nomination for her performance in Woody Allen’s 1999 film Sweet and Lowdown, and again for 2003’s In America.
However, she told Desert Island Discs that she has little interest in today’s awards ceremonies, suggesting they are now “so branded [that] it takes it away from the individuals”.
“Nowadays you can’t get an Oscar without running a campaign. Back then it was more on merit, I suppose,” she said.
Morton’s song choices included UB40’s “Burden Of Shame”, “The Town I Loved So Well” by Irish folk singer Luke Kelly, “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” by Spiritualized, and “This Must Be The Place” by Talking Heads.
The full episode is available to listen to now on BBC Sounds.
