Gillian Anderson had similar doubts about hiring a "beautiful young nanny" to her character in her new theatre show

The production follows a successful actress who befriends ingenue Eve (Lily James), only for the aspiring starlet to usurp her position, because of instances in her own life.

She told Vogue magazine: "In my current life, the new version of that is the hiring of a young nanny. I once called a Swedish nanny agency and the woman was trying to comfort me by saying all the nannies were 'pretty'.

"I must have made some noise out loud, because she told me this was something that was sought after. I said, 'There may be some women that want a beautiful young nanny but there are those, too, that would rather... not.' Right?"

Gillian also recalled being a teenage punk, whose boyfriend cheated on her with a new friend who had slowly "changed" to look more like the actress.

She said: "When I was in high school in Michigan, I was in the punk scene and had a boyfriend in a band. And a girl arrived.

"Ha, I never thought of it in this context before. Anyway, she started to change."

Gillian explained how the girl copied her hair cut and had her nose pierced, and added: "Then my boyfriend had an affair with her."

The 'Fall' star thinks the play will strike a chord with women because there is a sense of invisibility that comes with getting older.

She said: "There's a sense of being forgotten as you age, of becoming invisible when your currency has no value any more.

"Margo has a sought-after younger husband too and then this amazing refreshing young girl comes along."