Sadie Frost considers herself a showbiz survivor.

Sadie Frost

Sadie Frost

The 51-year-old actress is to play burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee in 'Britten in Brooklyn' which opens at Wilton's Music Hall in London at the end of August and she was thrilled to land the role because she believes she shares many of Gypsy's character traits, especially her instinct to prevail against adversity.

Speaking to website Luxury London, Sadie said: "I can relate to Gypsy because I was in showbusiness from the age of four and grew up surrounded by lots of performers.

"I was always a real musical fan. I loved Hollywood and old film classics and Gypsy was one of my favourite characters. Gypsy is such a savvy, interesting person.

"When you're in that world it's difficult to grow up, so she's quite childlike in a way, but also quite nurturing. She's a real survivor, against all odds - she's got to keep going."

Sadie's parents were the late psychedelic artist David Vaughn - who worked with The Beatles in the 1960s - and his muse Mary Davidson and at aged three the young Sadie starred in a Jelly Tots advert.

She later went on to marry Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp, and had a child with him, Finlay, now 25.

They divorced in 1995, and the London party girl went on to marry Jude Law with whom she had three children, son Rafferty, 19, daughter Iris, 15, and son Rudy, 13.

They eventually divorced in 2003 after Jude left her for Sienna Miller and since then she has had a string of romances.

However, Sadie - a close friend of supermodel Kate Moss - has managed to deal with the trial and tribulations of fame and accepted certain failures.

She said: "When you have your children early you constantly feel like you have to justify yourself," she admits. Not comparing herself to others has proved an effective coping strategy.

"I'm very lucky, I love my job and the people I work with. I think the key to happiness is accepting there are going to be things that are successful and things that aren't and not to hold onto a specific job as being a failure."