Defensive mother Helena Bonham Carter

19 December 2008

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Helena Bonham Carter admits pregnancy made her defensive about her vices.

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?"

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

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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