The diva — once panned as a horrible actress for her cinematic disaster Glitter — has wowed critics with her performance as a dowdy social worker in the poignant story of an abused teenage girl, but she reveals The Queen star Mirren was originally offered the role.

“Someone told me Helen Mirren had been offered the role of the social worker, but had to pull out. So it was daunting to try and fill the shoes of this great Academy Award-winning actress, but then I decided to snap myself out of that mindset and figure out what I could bring to the role.”

Dame Helen Mirren is in trouble again after claiming that “sexual jealousy” means female jurors are less likely to sympathize with victims of rape in this weekend’s edition of The Sunday Times.

The 63-year-old Oscar-winning actress believes that lawyers defending a man on trial for rape would prefer to have more women on the jury because women are more likely to believe the victim “was asking for it.”

The comments come just a few months after the Inkheart star was publicly chastised for controversial statements she made to GQ Magazine about being a victim of date-rape when she was in her 20s.

“In a rape case the courts – in defense of a man – would select as many women as they could for the jury, because women go against women. Whether in a deep-seated animalistic way, going back billions of years, or from a sense of tribal jealousy or just antagonism, I don’t know.”

She added, “But other women on a rape case would say she was asking for it. The only reason I can think of is that they’re sexually jealous.”

A spokesperson for Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren has released a statement defending some comments “very unbecoming of The Queen” that the 63-year-old star made concerning date rape and cocaine use in the October 2008 issue of GQ Magazine.

“Helen Mirren does not dispute the accuracy of statements attributed to her in an upcoming GQ article. She merely asks that people read the article in its entirety before drawing conclusions. If they do that, she says, their conclusions will likely be far less sweeping and sensational than those drawn by some in the popular press,” rep Stan Rosenfield said in a statement Wednesday. “She does not wish to qualify any of her remarks. She just wants to avoid having them presented in inflammatory language.”

Oscar winning-dame Helen Mirren confesses to life filled with date rape and drug use in the October 2008 issue of GQ Magazine, on newsstands on Thursday.

“I loved coke. I never did a lot, just a bit at parties,” Helen is quoted in the new edition of the men’s style mag.

Helen says she gave up on the “white medicine” after reading about Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie making money from cocaine in South America, “all the cards fell into place and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route.”

“I was [date-raped], yes. A couple of times,” the British actress explained. “Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will.”

“I don’t think she can have that man into court under those circumstances,” she then added. “I guess it is one of the many subtle parts of the men/women relationship that has to be negotiated and worked out between them.”

Starting Friday morning, Mirren got wind of a nomination by the British Academy Film Awards. This is the UK’s equivalent to the USA’s Academy Awards. Her movie The Queen came out at the top of the nominees. The same day, in the afternoon, another movie of hers, Elizabeth I was hailed by the American Film Institute as one of the 10 best television productions. Still the same day, at night, Elizabeth I won the distinction of being the best film made for TV. This time, it was the Broadcast Film Critics that had their say. More so, Mirren was named best actress for The Queen.

As if that were not enough, American Cinematheque held a tribute for Mirren at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Needless to say, this event was sold out early on. It wasn’t over yet at that point. She was again named best actress for The Queen by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Last, but not the least, she got 3 nominations for the Golden Globe.

I am overwhelmed already! What has she got to say about all this? “There seems to be nonstop fittings for clothes. It’s like playing a role, actually.” It’s nice to see that she’s not letting it all go into her head.