Photo: Simon Emmett
Best Recipe
I lived in Rome for three months while shooting a miniseries and discovered cacio e pepe, what Italians call peasant pasta. It's just spaghetti with butter, cheese, and black pepper—the greatest meal in the world. I craved it a lot when I was pregnant, and it's so simple and delicious that I still crave it now.
Best Summer Afternoon
I'm a sucker for a nap in my backyard hammock. When I was a kid, my dad used to swing my brother and sisters and me in one under the apple tree in our garden.
Best Guilty Pleasure
The Voice. I find other singing shows quite cruel when they poke fun at people, but I love settling in to watch this one, which embraces talented people who need a chance. We DVR it; I can't bear to sit through commercials.
Best Pick-Me-Up
Reflexology. My mum is a trained reflexologist, and she'd practice on the family. You apply pressure to specific points on the foot, which correspond to, and energize, different parts of the body. When I try it on myself, I have no real idea what I'm doing, so I just mimic what she did.
Best Adventure
Scuba diving with sharks in Bora-Bora on my honeymoon. Before this, I was convinced I was going to die by being eaten by a shark—I saw Jaws one too many times—but John convinced me to overcome my fear. Once I swam down and was surrounded by four-foot gray reefs that weren't biting me, I was glad I dove in.
Best Part of Being British
The accent. It gets you a long way in America. I've talked my way out of a few parking tickets by batting my eyelashes and saying, "I'm so sorry, officer. I'm just not from here."
From the June 2014 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
