Anya Taylor-Joy: I have a reputation for fighting for feminine rage

The Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy has said she has “developed a bit of a reputation for fighting for feminine rage”.

The actress, 28, added she is not promoting violence, but her latest role in Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa unlocked a kind of anger in her.

Taylor-Joy, who was born in the US but went to school in the UK, said she used to retreat to Hyde Park in the summer holidays to read and climb trees in response to how frustrating she found life at school.

She told British GQ: “The messaging I was getting at school was that everything about me was wrong. I think the way that I looked played into it, and then the extremes of my personality definitely played into it.

“If I loved something, I loved something. I have no chill in any regard, and that can be frightening for people, I guess.

“As a survival mechanism you learn to be self-effacing and self-deprecating. You bury yourself before anybody else does.

“What I’m coming to understand is: as long as you’re not causing anyone else harm, you have to stand your ground.”

She continued: “How do I say this? I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for fighting for feminine rage, which is a strange thing, because I’m not promoting violence – but I am promoting women being seen as people.

“We have reactions that are not always dainty or unmessy.”

In Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the origin story of the renegade warrior played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road, Taylor-Joy takes on the title role and said it unlocked something in her.

She said: “For all my championing of female rage, I’ve never been an angry person.

“For a long time the only time I ever got angry was on other people’s behalfs.

“I’ve always internalised this thing of ‘I’ve done something wrong. If you treat me badly, it’s because I am the problem’.

“I’m so grateful for Furiosa, because there was a real moment where I started getting angry for myself.

“My husband was like ‘I’ve never heard you be like this’. I was like, ‘I’m glad! I’m glad that I’m angry!’ If someone steps on me now, I’m like, ‘Hey, f*** you!’ That makes me feel good.”

Last month the actress confirmed she secretly married her partner Malcolm McRae two years ago in a ceremony in New Orleans.

The Heroes Issue of British GQ is available via digital download and on newsstands on June 11.