Samantha Morton reflects on homelessness and childhood challenges

Actress Samantha Morton has reflected on her childhood experiences of homelessness, foster care and family hardship, sharing how her parents' struggles with mental health and alcoholism shaped her early life.

The 49-year-old, who plays the sorceress Circe in The Odyssey, spoke about her upbringing in an interview with The Sunday Times.

"I went pillar to post with foster families, homeless hostels, sleeping by the bins at the back of the Co-op," Morton said.

"I have made choices that have always been about survival, because I watched my mum trying to survive and I watched my dad trying to survive."

Morton is the daughter of the late Pamela, who worked in a factory, and the late Peter, a coal miner. Her father died last year, while her mother died from lung cancer in 2017.

Reflecting on being described as resilient, she said, "Someone told me I was resilient when I was younger. But sometimes you've got no choice other than to be resilient because if you are not you're dead."

Morton has previously discussed her childhood in a 2009 interview with The Guardian, explaining that she lived between her separated parents until the age of eight before becoming a ward of court.

During that interview, she also revealed that her father had hit her and spoke about experiencing abuse during her childhood.

She said at the time, "I think anybody who has been abused as a kid - and I was abused as a kid, by various people - will say it's irrational because violence is irrational."

According to the earlier interview, Morton moved between foster families and care homes before leaving school at 13.

She also said she experienced homelessness for almost a year between the ages of 13 and 14, sleeping at friends' homes and in bus shelters.

Despite those experiences, Morton said she never blamed her parents.

"Never, never my parents. Always authority. Always the establishment. That's because I grew up in Nottinghamshire in the 80s with Margaret Thatcher destroying everything," she said.

"Just because somebody doesn't bring up their children or can't look after their children doesn't make them a bad person. There are all sorts of reasons … illness. There are so many reasons you can end up in care."