Jude Law wishes he had guarded his private life "a little earlier" than he did.
The 51-year-old actor shot to fame in the 1990s with roles in blockbusters such as 'Gattaca' but admitted when asked what "lessons" he has learned since those early days of success that he just wishes he had appreciated then that his celebrity persona is different from the man who lives away from the cameras.
He told The Guardian: "I’d have probably built that wall a little earlier. I’d have tried to just say, OK, you don’t know who I am. There’s a certain persona that is built on stuff that’s just been written about me – it’s not me, it’s this other guy. "
'The Order' star - who has Rafferty, Rudy, 22, and Iris , 24, with ex-wife Sadie Frost, Sophia, 15, with ex Samantha Burke, Ada, nine, with Catherine Harding as well as two young children with his current wife Phillipa Coan - explained that he is not "interested in promoting" either his personal life or beliefs these days because he doesn't want to limit himself to an audience in any way.
He said: "One of the reasons I’m just not interested in promoting who I am and what I think is because it inhibits the opportunity for an audience to say, oh, he can be this, he can be that."
The Hollywood actor also noted that he still has a "fond" view of the decade in which he found fame, and feels "very fortunate" to have been that age in that time.
He said: "My relationship with [the 90s] was as a 20-year-old. I look back very fondly but your 20s are a minefield, you’re comparing yourself with others, learning who you are… Then of course you turn 30 and you go, OK, I can relax now. But I was very fortunate to be that age in that decade. There was a lot going on creatively".
