Dec 19, 2008, 11:50 GMT
Helena Bonham Carter admits pregnancy made her defensive about her vices.
Helena Bonham Carter admits pregnancy made her defensive about her vices. © Solarpix / PR Photos
The 42-year-old actress - who has two children with partner Tim Burton, son Billy, five and 13-month-old daughter Nell - found it impossible to give up coffee while pregnant, and developed a sharp retort for when she was criticised for succumbing to her caffeine cravings.
According to 'The Black Book of Hollywood Pregnancy Secrets', if a man condemned her for drinking coffee, Helena would swiftly reply: "You try nine months of gestation and self-abnegation before you start censoring my diet. Your mother was probably on vodka, and do you have three heads?"
Helena limited her intake of the hot drink, but admits it was tough to give it up entirely.
She said: "I didn't drink caffeine as much as I would normally and try to restrict myself to one cup of coffee a day. One of my favourite dishes is carpaccio and I love sushi but I avoided them. Obviously anything with raw eggs was forbidden, too. "
The actress has previously revealed she was so desperate for a second child she took fertility drugs to boost her egg production, and also tried acupuncture and Chinese massage.
She said: "If I hadn't got pregnant I think we probably would have tried IVF (in vitro fertilisation), yes. Obviously, you don't know what you'd do unless you were actually in that situation. I think we might have gone for a round of IVF, but that would have been that."
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