Lynda La Plante suffered "so many miscarriages" she nearly gave up on her dream of having children.
Lynda La Plante
The 78-year-old star suffered a series of miscarriages with her ex-husband, Richard La Plante, and at one point in the 90s, she was prepared to give up on her hopes.
She explained: "I had so many miscarriages and there was a point where I said, ‘No that’s it, over. It’s finished.'
"And I got a great dane. Then one day I was on a beach in the Hamptons with some friends and I saw this young mother with a two-year-old on her hip with her little legs dangling … and the emotion I felt… because I thought, ‘I will never know what that is like.’ And the pain was still there. And then I got the call that night [from an adoption agency]. There is a baby. It was extraordinary."
Lynda - whose adopted son is called Lorcan - was given 24 hours to get to Florida to attend the birth of her son back in 2003.
She told The Independent: "Off I went. All by myself. No backup. Nobody there. I went to the birth. The fear was unbelievable. That was it."
Lynda thinks she was judged harshly for being an older mother.
She said: "It’s a fascination – particularly if you are semi-famous. You’re not a normal woman at a school gate – oh, you are Lynda La Plante, the crime writer."
Lynda admits that parenting provides plenty of "trials and tribulations".
And the actress - who also wrote the TV series 'Prime Suspect' - admits to being overly protective of her son.
She said: "There is a lot of unpleasantness out there ready to seep into you. I just find the unkindness so exasperating."