Joanna Lumley has criticised young people for not wanting to “wait after hours and do the unpaid work”.
The Absolutely Fabulous star despairs that this generation doesn’t have the work ethic of hers, and is instead encouraged to quit at the first hurdle.
She said: “I think this is a new thing. People thinking: ‘I couldn’t possibly! Why should I make the tea and coffee? Why should I wait after hours and do the unpaid work?’
“I’m afraid the answer is: that’s the way to do it. I’m afraid that’s how it works.”
“We’ve got to try to get the young to understand that it’s a tough old world,” she told i News.
“It’s lovely, but it’s tough. You’ve got to be ready, resilient, brave… and humble. You’ve got to understand that the world can do very well without you. Without any of us!”
The actress, 76, also said people were “brave” when she was a young adult in the ’60s as there was “more determination... to just get through”.
“We hung on in there, took some very humble jobs. It was an important part of the journey,” she explained.
“Things weren’t any easier then, but we did have a sense that you could have a crack at anything, whereas now we seem to put people into boxes very early on.”
Lumley, who recently caused divided opinion by saying she believed many people overplay mental health issues as struggling with hard times is just “what being human is”, currently stars in a new Channel 5 documentary, Joanna Lumley: My Best Bits – In My Own Words.
The documentary charts her rise to fame after being cast in The New Avengers in the ’70s, through to her most famous role as Patsy Stone in iconic BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
