Future Projects and Personal Life

Hello and welcome to the final episode of this series of the Louis Thereo Podcast. Today I'm joined by actress and Bridgetton superstar Simone Ashley. Bridgetton is, of course, the Netflix mega hit, the fourth season of which came out earlier this year, in which Simone plays Kate Sharmer, the sharp-witted older sister of the Diamond of the Season. That will mean something to Bridgetton fans . Her love interest, Anthony Bridgetton, is played by Jonathan Bailey, Johnny to his friends. We talk about that in the chat. And for me, this was an opportunity not just to talk to a talented young actress, but also to dig deep into a series that, to be honest with you I'd never seen before. I'd seen little glimpses and was always a little baffled, as a historian, if I may, by what seemed to be certain liberties it had taken with the historical record . Um it's a kind of multiracial take on aristocratic England of the early eighteenth century . We talk about that. It's kind of politically controversial in some ways, and in other ways I think people love it for not not being overly preoccupied with those themes. Simone's first big break was a recurring role in another of Netflix's big success stories , sex education. We don't talk about that. Sorry, there wasn't time. Since Bridgeton she starred in Disney's live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid and the romantic comedy Picture this. We recorded this conversation in March this year at Spotify HQ. 2026 is due to be a big year for Simone. She released her debut EP Songs I Wrote in New York last week and has started filming an A twenty four comedy film called Peaked, directed by Molly Gordon, who's an actor ess actoress is my new word. It covers all the bases. From T V kitchen drama series The Bear. She will also star as Miranda Priestley's new assistant in The Devil Wears Prada 2, that's Meryl Stre ep , which is in cinemas from the 1st of May. A quick warning: this conversation contains some strong language and adult themes. All that coming up after this episode is brought to you by Shopify. We do a lot of our shopping these days online. I've often thought in another life I could have had a blossoming online shop on Shopify. What would I sell? Maybe my chart topping books I could finally centralize all that bootleg merch, pillows, cushions, t shirts, cards, in one place. And where would it be ? On Shopify. If you want a better experience shopping online for you and your customers, Shopify is the answer. It's the commerce platform behind millions of your favorite thriving businesses like Gymshark and even Mattel , the International Toy Making Conglomerate. But it doesn't matter how big or small your business is, the big bonus of using Shopify is that they'll help you every step of the way, from designing your first website to finding customers, marketing new products, managing inventory, shipping internationally, and beyond. Important for my many fans overseas. They're the ultimate business partner. And the best part of all, you can do all that in one place . See fewer shopping carts go abandoned on those websites. You know what I mean? I can't deal with this. I'm going to stop doing it. And earn more with Shopify. Sign up for your one pound per month trial today at Shopify.co.uk slash Louis. That's Shopify dot CO dot UK Slash Louis . How's life? Life's good, yeah. Good. Good. Busy, but busy. Um you okay to talk about Bridgetton for a second? Yeah, yeah. In case you didn't know , it's one of the biggest hits in the history of Netflix. Apparently, the three three of the seasons rank in the top ten most streamed shows on Netflix. Wow. I watched it for the first time in preparation for this interview. Oh wow. Did you watch the whole second season? Yes. Wow. Thank you. So I was aware as a um fifty-six, fifty-five year old man, I'm not the demographic as such. Apparently 80% of viewers are are women. Women, yeah. And probably on the younger side. Um but people who don't know, and everyone most people probably do know this, it's kind of Jane Austen esque , but it's not Jane Austen. It's set during the early nineteenth century in an alternative London Regency era, in which George III established racial equality and granted aristocratic titles I'm reading this to people of colour due to the African heritage of his wife, Queen Charlotte. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That is a show that's about escapism. And you know, the first season came out during lockdow and uh people felt fed. It blew up the algorithm. You you your romance was sort of the main storyline in in season two, and it was with you and the character of Lord Bridgerton played by Jonathan Bailey . Um and you make a great couple. Could I say that? I think a lot of people have have have said how good your chemistry is. Mm-hmm . Yeah. I mean, Johnny, I you know , learnt so much from him um from an acting point, obviously exactly. Right, because he's a little older, so he will have been doing stage stuff for Totally. Oh true the He's a veteran. 100%. So we I learned so much from him, obviously, because we we filmed during lockdown, so we were together for like eleven months every day pretty much. But I I think he set a great example. Um um of um I guess for a better word, the loyalty to the show and you know, it is a show about family and returning home and returning to the family and just um I think a lot of people follow that suit. I particularly learnt a lot from that example and yeah, now when we go back there is that environment of coming home and feeling like but tons. I'm sure if I follow like what's the alternative to that? Isn't that quite natural to feel the loyalty? Like what would it feel what would it be like to not be loyal? Do you know what I mean? I can only comment on what me and Johnny have done, and that is um we just really make sure that our schedules can just make it work. Oh I see. Coming back and you know, I think he flew between like Toronto and London back and forth whilst he was filming Wicked. Um I thank God I've not been filming during the start of this year. I've done like eight cities in one month. So that would have been a bit nuts to to figure out. But I would have done it. I would have scheduled it in. Yeah. What struck me as well is again I'm gonna sound like such an old fart, but so there's going through it, it was it was interesting to see how much delayed gratification there was. Slow burn. There's a slow burn. Yeah, totally. Uh spoiler al ert, if you haven't got all the way through season two, uh switch off now. I think it's like episode is it six or seven, um where you finally have the kiss. And ba basic bitch that I am, I'm thinking, wow, they've got a lot of angles on that. Yeah. That must have taken a while. Well like the steady cam shot. Yeah, there's steady cam spinning one way, there's a steady cam spinning the other way. Th'eres an up above. Yeah. Um that must be a whole morning. Isn't it? Yeah, probably. Well, the first kiss is in the church. Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. Oh yeah. That was no, it wasn't a whole morning, but yeah, it was like it was a shot. And we we were filming dur sorry to interrupt you. No, no, please. We we were we were filming during COVID. Right. Um and we had to this makes no sense at all. But I guess just for like you know, to make production feel less anxious, we had to rinse with Cors adil between. Why, Corsadil? That used to be a sponsor of the podcast. Shame, they should come back. That would have been a perfect grand synergy. But there's there's no way that that's gonna do anything. Anyway. It was a COVID thing. So we would rinse our mouths and then they'd be like they they say cut, take you know, rinse our mouths, put the mask or visor back on and then go back in. Yeah. So that was So you're standing there with mas ks and then taking them off to smo och and then putting the masks back on? We were definit it was very regimented back then with the masks and the visors. I don't know if it was that regimented, but I'm also watching it thinking uh how passionate 'cause like nowadays people I mean I I don't this sounds weird. Am I gonna say this? Sometimes uh like if there's a kiss, like you m you think, oh are they gonna French kiss, right? Right. And then you and then is that in the script or how do you decide or would that feel anachronistic? Do you know what I mean? What does anach ronistic mean? It means like it would be not true to the time. Ahistorically. Okay, so they didn't . Great point. I I was told the lead up to that moment, ladies in that time weren't allowed to cross their legs or touch another man. So there were some scenes where I would touch his shoulder, maybe to get his attention or something, and they'd say, You can't do that. So that was really frustrating. I think Johnny and I were m so lucky enough that we both had that amazing working chemistry together and we adored the characters and their stories so much and really um wanted to tell their love story in the best way possible. It's like you you've talked about intimacy coordinators on here before. I think it is important and I think For a kiss would you have one? I suppose you would, would you? I can't remember if we had it. Just for a kiss. I think the the great thing is though we we worked together on that. You and Johnny. Yeah. Um, you know, understanding what it was that we wanted to to tell in that moment. For sure. Yeah. Hell yeah. Talked a lot about Bridget and Kissing. It's great. We have actually so interesting. Uh When you come onto that, because that was a big break for you. I think you could you've been in sex education, but you hadn't been the principal of a high-profile series like that . Is that massively stressful? It must be quite intimidating. I think it it's stressful in the sense, okay, there's a big workload ahead. I knew that we were basically gonna be in rehearsals and filming for a year. I I love it. I love doing what I do and I felt just so happy to get the job for one and to be offered to do embark something like that. Of course. And I think I was also so naive to how big the show was that I wasn't that intimidated. Are you in the first season? No. So you were in at the deep end? The first season just came out and it was Massive. Did you know how big it was when you started? Yeah, in the sense I knew I could it was so visible and everyone was talking about it and I knew you know, how big it was. I guess I just didn't I'd never really experienced anything like that. So I it which was probably a good thing. Cause I just didn't even after Bridgerton for a few for a few months, I just didn't really, I wasn't aware. I didn't know. Really? Yeah . So then uh season two of Bridgert on comes out and I think it's the biggest of all the seasons That's a great opinion. Have you got a view on that? No, because I Is that I I think every season shines in its own way. You can't say that but I can. I think that's data based. What's it's based on something? Haven't they counted the streams? You know what I'm talking about. I'm sure that they have. Would that be unseemly for you to agree with what I just said? I think um as a cast member As a team effort. As a team , as a team member, as a family member. As a human member. As a human member sisterhood of Bridgerton? Yeah. Um I I really think each season. It was the best. Yours was the best. Is that where that was going? Everyone loved it. You should watch season four, Yaren and Luke. Yaren and Luke. What's wrong with season three? Season three's great as well, but season four's out now. Uh my one note for Bridgerton would be they use the word indeed too much. Oh yeah. Have you noticed that? Now that you've said it , that lands. It's like how do we make this sound like it was from the early eighteenth century? Or it's actually early nineteenth century isn't its regency. Well if you say indeed, pass me the coffee indeed. Oh really? Oh really, indeed? No, no . That's my writer's note. That's all right, isn't it I said in a spirit of love. What's your do you have a note for them as well? In case they're listening, the writers. Um if any writers are watching. Um that that is Louis opinion. Indeed. Indeed . I will visit the mod iste indeed. You're right. Th'eres gonna be memes now or videos. Indeed. Have a drink every time they say indeed. Yeah, a drinking game. You wouldn't even last twenty minutes. Indeed . Um what's the t I know I know this, but just we were disagreeing about the ton. What is the ton ? The ton is like the society. It is, right? Yeah. It's not short for bridgetton . That's just a coincidence. I think I d I don't know. I think so. I don't know. You live there. I know. I know. I'm sure it's in the books somewhere as well. It's short for bon ton, apparently, which means like good tone or Wow you knew the answer . You're a bit of a poke player. Well it's no good me answering my own questions. If only I wouldn't need to have any guests. I just come on and speak to myself for an ho ur. Um inde ed. Some peop basically people love Bridgerton uh and then there's a few who don't. This kind of questions around the whole kind of the the way race is handled, right? Are you aware of this? Um because it sort of it projects a much happier version onto the past, right? There's there's people get along, there's no real racial prejudice in it. There was a story in the New York Times from 2024, basically kind of giving the alternate view, saying it's a magical multiracial past. Have you thought about that at all? Like you wouldn't want that to give a false sense of actually how the past was? You know, and there's this alternate version where actually increasing special especially post-2020, like, oh we need more accountability for colonialism, you know. And we need stately homes to have sections where they're like, actually it was the slave trade that made this possible . Um so I guess there's a tension there. I'm wondering if if is that something you've spent any time thinking about? About the show. Yeah, right. Yeah. Um and I think it's totally valid you raise it. It's definitely a conversation a lot of people have around the show. I think to be specific about the show, this is a show that is about a society of characters that we meet that are incredibly nuanced and are portraying human emotion that we all experience, right? And one being love. The big one being love. Loving is the high water mark of living, as D. H. Lawrence said. It's just luxuriating in the intensity of that experience of young love and lust. Yeah. I mean I I love talking about love. I think it's it's such a shared universal language. And you know, to be part of a show that is driven by that subject is incredible. And I think this show it you know that it's it's colourful, it's fun, it's escapism, it is made to spark the imagination of the viewer of the possibility of love and family. And I think if you want to watch something that's more fictionally accurate, maybe it's just not the right genre. It's not about anything else, I don't think . Would you agree? I think I would agree . Um let me just see what the guy says who wrote the article. We can watch ourselves speak languages we did not speak in rooms where we were unlikely to have been welcome. We are included, but our actual history is erased It's valid to have that that that feeling and thought. Totally. I I I don't disagree with it. I guess what I'm saying is this show has a specific purpose and perhaps to explore the purpose of something more historically accurate, there's something else that you must choose to watch. Uh the one quote that stuck out was you've said, I don't want to play stereotypes Mm-hmm . You just want to feel what cast where the role is comes first rather than something it seems to represent. Yeah. I mean look, I'd love to do more culturally specific roles for sure, but it's not all I want to do. I I'm an everyday girl to a degree. Like I understand like my lifestyle's not fully relatable with what I do for a living, but I want to make work that I can relate to things that are just more than my heritage. So good writing, a great director, a great script, great music producer, great storyline, and ur gency for something to be told like any any actor would approach something . Can we talk about your upbringing what you were talking about? Uh I knew you're you're a a garland ed well certainly loved actor. Uh I hadn't realized there was a musical background as well. And also they've sent they sent uh some music over which I enjoyed. Yeah. Tell me about it. Um so yeah, I I started singing when I was really young, like six, seven. Did like classical training, piano playing, and then I did musical theatre and I thought musical theatre is what I wanted to pursue as a forever career and I learnt very quickly that it wasn't what I wanted to do. Um and then I This is when you were how old? Late teens? Yeah, teens, yeah. Because you'd left school at 15, did I read that? Um I left school I left home really young. Did you how old? Fifteen. Did you go to boarding school? Where did you where did you move to? Um I was between LA and London for a long time. Really? Just living with family? Yeah. Family, friends. Um there's a story there. There is there is a story. Um I I I did try acting school. I tried drama school. Right. Um I went to a school to a school in West London. In Chiswick. Yeah. Yeah, you know the one. I don't know I only from reading the notes. Is it a famous one? I mean I've got it written down. It was, I guess it is. were live was it You you were living in Beaconsfield at this time, were you? I went to high school in Beaconsfield, yeah. And I was always back and forth between England and California. I have family there. Um Did you not get along with school? Did you not I hated school. I really didn't like school. Um, I had a really hard time at school. I mean, I I went to an all-girls school for one, which is just carnage. And I was so such a dream er and I wanted this life beyond high school um and beyond the town that I grew up in. I think that being that being Camberley or Beaconsfield? Both, both. Both quite nice places, I'm told. Really lovely. Did a little reading on them. Yeah. I was very privileged to grow up. Kerberly sounded nice. Since it's in uh Surrey. Yeah. Beckensfield's in Buckinghamshire. Yeah. Quite it's a it's a kind of um I mean that was a stretch for us. Like I was gonna see my parents really stretched. I guess it was this is a random fact. In 2008 , it was the most expensive town in Britain. Yeah, so we not afford it, but the schools were top-notch, like really good grammar schools around there. My brother went to like a really great boys' grammar school. Your dad was a pharmacist, your mum, an accountant . I'm just chucking these little facts in just to flesh it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they for they were reaching up a bit to financially in order to um establish you there? Oh yeah, a hundred percent. My mum worked round the clock. So it was a it was a girls' day school . Which I I failed my eleven plus. So they moved all the way there. And my brother's obviously like a genius. Is the older brother, Sean? Yeah. Two years older. Three years old. Three years older. And he he's so smart and very academically strong. And they moved all the way there and Sean obviously passed his eleven plus and got into the grammar school and we got there and I failed. So that was pretty that wasn't that wasn't was not part of the plan. Um but then I appealed . So I fak ed my way in. Um Well they took another look at your exams and said actually I think appealing is literally when the parents go in and they beg. They literally beg. Like I'm surprised that works. Well, I don't know. Yeah. It undermines one's faith a bit. Like, oh if you're pushy enough they will get you in. Yeah. Maybe they were able to shed more light on your winning personality and other assets. Well I didn't really have a great personality then. I was so we I was not cool. So I don't know. You've said you were rebellious. Was that later? Yeah, I think in the sense of I think it would have been a really safe route, especially for my parents , to know that I was gonna choose a career, go to university, get the degree, practice and become something a a little bit more straightforward. Yeah. So yeah, I think I was released in the sense I I made it really hard for my family, in the sense I I chose to do a career that can be quite expensive to to do, to start in, and there's no guarantee of money or success. And you know, there's no there's no dry land. You you have Tamil heritage. Do you feel connected to your Tamil heritage? Um, sometimes, yeah. Do you speak Tamil? No. Do you go back have you been over there at all? Yeah, I used to go back as a kid. Um I went to Mumbai a few years ago. I I would love to visit India more often and I really should. Maybe I'll go back this Christmas. Um presumably your parents had a uh an option to raise you bilingual and then thought nah. I know. My mum speaks Hindi Tamil Tamil. I was saying it wrong the whole time. Well well I've been fine. Um and English, obviously now. Um and all I can speak is English. I'm I learnt more German when I had a German partner than I did ra being raised in an Indian family. But talk about the school and how it was uh a challenging environment. Did you not have great friends or was it a very was it cleaky? So clicky. I had friends, but I I just think I I spent a lot of my time alone. Um and I I think it was a reflection of how unhappy I was that I was always daydream ing about what my life would be outside of all of this. So I was always thinking and what would it have been? Thinking about what as an actor, as a musician, singer? Yeah, everything. Just like As a star . Well, I didn't say that. But it's a daydream. You're allowed to say that. Yeah. I I wanted something. I wanted a life where I was fulfilling my dreams and my passions and to have fun. And I guess I was rebellious in the sense I didn't like being told what to do. I felt like I was wasting time, which is maybe not a great example to set for any young audiences listening to this. But I I found it really hard. Were you did you apply yourself? Did you find the studies difficult? My brother used to lock me in the house and because he's a teacher, he's great at teaching kids. I'm not even joking when I say this. He would take photos of like like a forensic of the house to make sure that I didn't get up and not do my studies. Like so that the T V wasn't like okay, it's makes him sound like he's czyra. But it's actually more a reflection of how shit I was. He's not crazy. So what were you listening to watching if you had dreams of show business success or whatever whatever it may have been, what were you connecting with culturally? I grew up listening to a lot of rock. Um Rolling Stones, The Doors, Pink Floyd, um Reg gae, Bob Marley. I grew up listening to yeah, my dad has excellent taste in music, and then we would listen to Andrew Lloyd Webber's music. Um and then I I did classical singing from a young age, so I sang German lead, Italian, um What's German lead? Singing, German singing. Like German , like like the the German word for songs. Yeah . Okay. I thought it was like it was like you can sing soprano, you can sing German lead, like that's a vocal range. No, yeah, it could be. It could be. It sounds like well . German lead or German backup? Yeah. Uh what about so we but was it m and movies? Were you thinking obviously now you're a uh successful actor in TV and movies, so we did you have your eyes on that at all? To be an actor.. Yeah Yeah. I I I grew up watching Tarantino movies. Um from quite a young age. Like Uma Thurman's performance in Killbill changed my life. As a young girl watching a woman of that kind of character so tenacious and so, you know, physically strong and the storyline being so simple that she just wants to get her daughter back, kill fucking everyone on the way. Yes she does. Female Rage. Um and the way I'm such a Tarantino fan, the way his movies are executed and the soundtracks as well. I just was like I just want to be a part of this form of work, this line of work. Um so yeah, I Have you met Tarantino ? Have you? He's retired from movie making I believe. But don't they say that all the time and then one other one comes out. Do you think so? Do you think that's become like a flex? It's like boxers used to do that and then they'd come back, I'm gonna come out of retirement, and now it almost feels like that's just something everyone does. Rappers do it. Oh really? Jay-Z retired and then just came back. I'm thinking of retiring just purely to get a bigger payday. Tyson Fury's retiring every couple of years. I don't think that's calculated, but I think it ends up kind of being advantageous. It drives up demand. You should retire. Maybe. Just for like six months. Maybe this is doesn't matter. Wonder how long you have to do it before your your value before it kind of kicks in. I haven't met Tarantino to answer your question. I'm not very connected in Hollywood. I hate to disappoint you, but my cousin Justin Who I know you may know Justin Thoreau, for some reason he insists on mispronouncing our name. Uh is in Devil's Wear Prada 2 as well. Was it all right? Did it go okay? Yeah, I saw it for the first time on Monday. Um would you give him a good review, Justin? Did you enjoy is he is he a compatible confrere on the set? 100%. He is a very pivotal character and moment. But is he a nice guy? He is a wonderful guy. Really lovely. Is he toxic? Is he difficult? Is he deverish? Is he a martinet? No, he's incredibly kind. Not that I'm leading the witness. Uh I spoke to him five minutes before you came in the room. Oh yeah. And said, I'm about to speak to Simone. What's the word? And he said, Two thumbs up. Great. I'm trying to get some beef going, but it's not really working. Uh I've h I've read you I think Mindy Kayling has been important to you. Growing up, yeah. I look up to her so much and I think she's amazing . But I grew up watching her. Was it you talk more about that though, the idea that for you as a girl, young woman growing up, it would have felt what? That it connected you to something to see people that looked like you? Representation, yeah. Though it wasn't really any I never I wasn't self-conscious about it. No. I I I knew that I had dark skin and sometimes I was bullied for it or like it was the you know, racial banter within the family. Like it was just a thing. But like I was never in the family. Well, in the sense it's like, well, you know, if I got told off at school, my mum would be like, Well, make sure that you double down on this because you're the brown kid and you're easy to sp to pick out and to m to remember, 'cause that's what they will refer you to. Which one was it? Oh, the brown kid. So that's what I mean. It was just something that was so normalized in my up that was just what it was. But like I it was never like oh I'm never gonna achieve my dreams because I'm brown. I was so beyond I I didn't think that way at Not really. There's some schools in West London that are majority Asian. Like there's certain parts of West London where it there's just large Asian communities. Yeah. But it sounds like maybe your school wasn't one of those. Yeah. It was predominantly white. Yeah. But school I I always knew school was just a moment in time, it wasn't a reflection And uh I um I want to pursue my destiny, I want to seek my fortune. Um so I I tried out a year at this drama school and I um I I essentially got kicked out because I I sucked at dancing and I was told that it was n't just a dance school. It was a triple threat course for musical theatre. I and a lot of other people would argue that was strongly leaning towards the dance threat. Um was it something about musical theatre in particular? Yeah. I I loved the discipline of it. I I grew up classically singing. W when you say musical theatre, I'm thinking of the sound of music. Yeah, Rogers and Hammenstein. Um Guys and Dogs . Yeah. Mary Poppins. West Side Story. That was your meat and potatoes. I loved that stuff. What was your favourite musical? Gosh. Evita. West Side Story. Sound of music. So I love sound of music. I feel like I've kind of forced you to say that. I know I love sound of music. I know it's set in Austria. I I used to go to Switzerland and Austria all the time, and it's one of my favourite places on the planet.. The mountains Is that Rogers and Hammerste in? I think he's got a serious social message about defying the Nazis. And he sings Edelweiss, uh I believe it is it Rex Harrison? No. Who is it? Christopher Plummer. Christopher Plummer, I'm getting mixed up. Anyway, Edelweiss is the song. Edelweiss is such a beautiful song and it's about um a mountain flower. And people, men used to climb up the mountain to pick the eight of ice to bring back for their wives to show them their um their love. Is that true? Yeah, it's a mountain flower that will literally weather any storm. I knew that it was a mountain flower. I've been told that you know they pitch it as like it's a traditional Austrian folk song in the musical, but apparently it was written for the musical. Really? Yeah. By the surprise, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So you'd seen all these musicals you thought, I can do that. You went to the school and then they're like, nah. You haven't gone. I I was I I can do that and I loved doing it and I loved the discipline of it and I love the art of it. I I really loved it. And then I went to the school and I realized oh , the behind the scenes of it is actually not who I want to be and not who I am as a person. And um I mean the behind the scenes of it? Just like the reality. The reality, yeah. And then I really started to think, do I want a long standing career in musical theatre for the rest of my life? Not really. I wanted to do I was the kid when we finished school, I would go home and everyone else would be rehearsing or whatever that's a applies to the course and I'd be at home watching Tarantino movies and or singing Alicia Keys and all of that. And yeah, I think it just I think it was really evident that I was really leaning into the singing and the acting side. Um but the dance side I could move and I can dance, but I by no means am I a ballerina. Mm. I I always believe, especially artists, but this applies to anyone. I think you you you always know your agency and who you are. I think you just gotta be in the right environment with the right people and then it can be let out and I was I was not in the right environment. Which is fine. I I left and then I started working for Netflix and doing other things. This episode is brought to you by Moneybox, the award-winning saving and investing app. Money's important. Why? Well, because it means freedom, freedom to enjoy your life. We're now in a new tax year, and as long as you're in the UK and over 18, you have a brand new ICER allowance. So you can save up to £20,000 and not pay any tax on the interest you earn. This is the last year that your cash ICER allowance is £20,000 before it's reduced for under 65s in April 2027. Handy to know. To make the most of it, check out Moneybox. Moneybox is trusted by over 1.5 million savers and their customers rate them excellent on Trustpilot. So if you've been putting off sorting out your savings, now's the time. Open a moneybox cash ISA in the app or at moneyboxapp .com. It takes just a few minutes. ISAT and Tax Rules Apply. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. We do a lot of our shopping these days online. I've often thought in another life I could have had a blossoming online shop on Shopify. What would I sell? Maybe my chart topping books, some TLTP bingo cards for the Die Hard Podcast fans. I could finally centralize all that bootleg merch, pillows, cushions, t shirts, cards in one place . And where would it be? On Shopify. If you want a better experience shopping online for you and your customers, Shopify is the answer. It's the commerce platform behind millions of your favorite thriving businesses like Gymshark and even Mattel , the International Toy Making Conglomerate. But it doesn't matter how big or small your business is, the big bonus of using Shopify is that they'll help you every step of the way, from designing your first website to finding customers, marketing new products, managing inventory, shipping internationally and beyond. Important for my many fans overse as. They're the ultimate business partner. And the best part of all, you can do all that in one place . See fewer shopping carts go abandoned on those websites. You know what I mean? I can't deal with this. I'm gonna stop doing it. And earn more with Shopify. Sign up for your one pound per month trial today at Shopify.co.uk slash Louis that's shopify dot c slash Louis We should talk about you mentioned Netflix. So when you finally you're at your you've got paparazzi at your door, right? It must get quite weird quite quick. I think paparazzi no, they went to my old family address. Did they? And they went to my neighbour. Back in Beaconsfield area? Um You don't want to say Beaconsfield. I'm not I'm Did you never live there? I'm not trying to. Never ever lived there. You go there now, house but not down. Um , you're throwing them off the scent. You're worried that people arrive in Beaconsfield and they just start going around like, hey, can you show us where Simone Ashley's house is well that happened. And they they targeted a really old lady. And she had no idea and she But it wasn't, it was a um was it a fan or a paparazzo? I think it was The Sun. The Sun newspaper.. Yeah Mm-hmm. And they went to an old ladies' house to do what? To ask where I was. And then she gave them a different address and it was in the like buttfuck nowhere. So that was fine. She threw them off the scent. I think so, yeah. I've never had them outside my doorstep in London. They're everywhere in New York. Um so I was New York it goes with the territory in a weird way. I think peop people almost get ready for it. Yeah, I don't know . I just make sure I've got my lip balm on. Where you where do you mostly live? New York. Do you? I moved there last year. Yeah. Nice. Mm-hmm. I'm having the time of my life in New York. I love it. I it's changed my life. Yeah. It must have been very odd. Like when you realized uh tabloids are interested in me, social media , um, I'm gonna dig out a quote. You said something like you said social media is something I need to get better at. Did I? When did I say that? I think uh probably in Harper's Bazaar last year, maybe. Don't know. Yeah, I guess I do if I said that. What I'm asking is how did you how f how easy was it to navigate uh what insights did you have when you realized oh I've become public property? Like suddenly people who like me are saying how amazing I am, and then there's a few people who don't like me and they're saying the opposite. And can you stay away from that and all that Um property is a profound word to use. That's I but I guess some people feel that way. Yeah they do. Um Especially with a that parasocial relationship that you know fans have with something as huge as Bridgetton. People are overinvested. Like they're like, oh that's my Bridgetton. Yeah. Oh, handy possession. My Jonathan Bailey. Do you know what I mean? I do know what you mean. I think okay, I I I mean I've had more and more experience now doing interviews, press, press tours, promoting work, that I in terms of like the tabloid side of it, you soon learn things that you just don't want to be highlighted in a sparkly headline on the Daily Mail. Um, which will happen. There might be something pulled out here. My season was the best. Uh Simone Ashley rips the other seasons But Pete you'll be it's amazing how something seemingly innocent can somehow out And I learned that very quickly. Um so that was something I really had to navigate and just learn when to shut up, basically. Um I think in terms of the public property part. And maybe this is something I need to work on and worry about myself more. But I'm fine with it in the sense I think my mum may raise me really well. I think I'm not an offensive person. Um, look, I I love my work. If it means that I can go and make music, act, do all these creative things , great, I get to do my passion in life. And yes, it's a choice I made. So no one put a gun to my head saying, Hey, you've got to do this. I made this choice. And there are hides to it, and then there are parts that are a little bit um, you know, I have to navigate it. So I'm fine. I actually what I find stressful is protecting the people who are closest to me around me. So I would never want them to feel the stress of my lifestyle. So um that's a big thing for me. Someone said uh other people is the price that celebrities pay for their fame. In other words, like you kind of have all the perks, right, as a famous person, one does, but the people around you don't really get the benefits and they have um they're the ones who sometimes pay the price a bit. I certainly it's bor I don't mind going around doing selfies , but uh it's kind of boring for my family. I mean that's a small example. You know, I've I've been lucky enough to be with people that encourage me and that like go go shine, go do your thing, like go go Your parents. Parents, friendships, relationships. Um, I think things change, you know , I can only imagine it's very different when you're um a bit older and you've got family and you've been in a a partnership with someone for many, many years. I can imagine it changes. But at the moment I' m not married. I'm dating. So That'd be a big statement if you said you were married. Oh yeah. Okay. This is a hot potato. Okay. Is it this is something I talked to Joan Collins about . She talked about how if you were too beautiful it could hold you back . So um you're very beautiful and I wonder if you feel that in any way it's any context in which that could feel like a disadvantage . Um thank you for saying that. I feel like do you ever feel you have to feel obliged to say thank you if someone makes that comment, right? It's weird. Sure. Did you feel like did you just say it because you felt like you should? Yeah. You didn't feel very grateful. Well, I'm not gonna go indeed, am I? Indeed . No, I know what you mean. Yeah, no, I think that's probably right. I don't analyse myself in that way. I I'm so lucky to have the opportunities I have, so I'm not gonna sit here and complain about how I may or may not look. The question would be like, well, why would it hold you back? Yeah. I'm thinking out loud. I guess I guess I guess the answer is less about us, more about the decision makers and them just being stup id And there's the clickbait I don't know. Uh who are the decision makers? I don't know. I think well, okay, in theory, yes, that that is correct. And I'm sure it's an opinion Which what is correct? Okay, maybe you see a performance or something and you're like, oh maybe you've heard someone be like, oh that that's so distracting because of how they look. Or maybe the if there's another construction which is, oh, she's a model. Uh look at her Instagram. She's doing she I'm not talking about you specifically. This is a kind of fictional post. She's uh uh always on the cover of Vogue or on a runway or and she's not doing street the atre in Poland. Do you know what I'm talking about? And so you could imagine that would create a prejudice that oh um that brings an association of glamour rather than craft. Right. Fairly or unfair ly. I think that's No, I think it's always about the craft. Totally. If if your craft is like your ride or die and your main priority, and that's why you're doing something and learning more about your craft, exercising that muscle, that is all that matters. But I think I how how boring to fit into a category of how you got there. Well, we should I don't know people who were listening or watching would know that you ca that initially you got signed up as a model. Is that correct? I actually didn't. I did a little bit of modelling in LA. Um to pay the bills when you were in late teens you'd move to we've we've resumed the sub narrat No, I've got family in Ohio. I went to LA. Did you get scouted when you were out there? Uh no, I got scouted in London. But I didn't book any work. I made no money. I basically used it so I could stay in this apartment and audition. Yeah. Why having signed you in London did they send you to LA? I think it was my idea. I think I was like do you I just want to go there . And your parents said my my parents I because I was so young in my late teens, my mum was like , okay, just let her try it out. And then when I came back to London and I was auditioning more and stuff, I think I was like 21, and my mum was like, she ever so slightly whispered like, if this doesn't work out in a few years' time, we we kind of need to reassess it. And I I always knew I'd be fine. Was there a time when they were freaking out? Like when you got you did say you were expelled from the b the performing arts school, right? They must have been like, oh that's not good. I if they did, they never vocalized it. Really? So they were pretty chill by and large? No. They I think they were just more like I don't know, to be honest. I was so not bothered by it. Obviously I was emotional when it happened and like crying to my boyfriend at the time. But even he was like, this is a good thing. This is fine. That's good. Life can be your education, not an institu te. The school of life. The university of life. The university of hard knocks. Yeah . Zayn Mal ik . Wow, you are going back. Yeah . I love how I I was told by Disney to come here and talk about specific things. We've talked about what else we'll what would you have come up with some real like sp really cool like niche things. Thank you for doing your research. Alec is not, I beg your pardon. No, ni che in my career, yeah. By the way, what did Disney tell you just we sp but we talked about Devil Wears Prada 2? Not really. Stanley Tucci? We have not talked about Talked about it. We've not yes, but we haven't spoken about it. Say something about that. Ask me a question. How was it making the devil wears Prada 2? Amazing. Best summer of my life. I've said that so many times, it's getting boring now. I need to stop saying it's the best summer of everyone. But it is supposed to be good. My first day on that movie I I was not relaxed at all. I was incredibly nervous. First day must be tough. Yeah I was thrown in. Do you do a table read as well? We did do a table read. That was nerve-wracking, yeah. It wa and it was my first time meeting everyone. You're working off the script. Off the script. Mm-hmm. In a way I'd be thinking well at least you don't have to memorize it, you can just read it out . So maybe that's less nerve wracking. But then I actually find it a bit more nerve wracking because you're staring at the page and especially if you're nervous and new, you're really trying to show that you've got the job for a reason, so you're just clinging on to this script, trying to make it sound exciting. But on on set, yeah, different kind of nerves . I'm feeling ending energy. I feel like I feel like it'd be good to end on something of substance, but you know, my feelings only count for so much. What does the future hold? That's not a bad ending question. Where do you go next? Um You got you're taping the movie. It's called You see You Peaked. Peaked. And the music's coming. Music's coming out. Recorded with I should mention Fraser T. Smith. Who you know? I met him at Stormsey's Party, name drop. Very cool. Uh and a been a fan of his music. Do you know what the T stands for? Why don't I know that? Should know. I just thought Theodore. Do I know that is probably more to the point. Yeah why do you 'cause I looked it up. Oh. It stands for Thornycroft . Ah well that makes so much sense you could see why he might drop it. Well he's not just in fact for five years he was Craig David 's guitarist. I know. I yeah, we went to Jules Holland together, um where he played at Craig. So they're still tight, him and Craig. Oh. Made amazing. So if you listen to the guitar on I'm Walking Away, you're probably listening to Fraser's guitar work, I'm guessing. So there's that and what else? Double West Prada. But the big picture. And the plan is to scale the heights to find love? Oh yeah. Always. Always. Um have another great year in New York. Are you happily single? Oh I'm having yeah, I'm having a great time. Yeah. I definitely want a a relationship and feel very ready for a relationship. But um the th I think it's about finding the right person and everyone always says right time, but I think it's just finding someone that's loves a choice, you know. Mm-hmm that's like, okay, I choose to commit to this or do this . 'Cause a relationship's very different to dat ing. I thought you were gonna say situationship. I don't get into those. I don't even know what those are really. It's it's it's a way to just keep things vague. Yeah. Toxic noncommitment. Yeah. Fuck boy. Not my style. Fuck boy shit. Haven't got time for that. Maybe that's a good note to end on. Yeah. Haven't got time for fuck boys. No fuckboy shit required. Thank you so much for coming by. I really appreciate it. Thank you for rolling with the random uh the randomness. Welcome back, did you enjoy that? Millie's main takeaway was that I kept saying the devil's wear Prada instead of the devil wears Prada . If you spotted that, give yourself a pat on the back. I was in a flow state. I actually noticed when I said it the first time and I was like , I'm gonna keep going. When you're in a hole, stop digging is a phrase that often comes to mind in my world. What does that mean? It just means if you screw up, don't even necessarily apologize, just keep moving Are you okay about the thing I said? Does that make sense Millie's written you didn't manage to cancel just in this episode because I made a joke about was he inappropriate on set, which you know, he's he's my cousin and my friend, so sometimes closeness uh is expressed through banter through through cheeky it's a benign violation. That was the phrase I think um Jimmy Carr used. We'll get him cancelled eventually, and then I can move in on all those high paying Hollywood gigs. Corsadill came up. The mouthwash, which uh was formerly a sponsor. We're off they're not on our sponsorship list anymore, so we don't have to pretend . We don't have to pretend anymore . Right. Does it treat COVID? Studies on the effectiveness of Cors idil, which can contains this is the real stay tuned for this. Chlorhexidine against COVID nineteen has yielded conflicted and limited results. Some research suggests a temporary reduction in viral load in the mouth, but it's generally less effective than some other mouthwatch ingredients in the laboratory and clinical settings. Like you'd be thinking, you've probably already thought of this about Cetylpridinium predinium chloride or povidone iodine . If we already knew that, uh forgive me, some people haven't got the news yet about cetylprodinium chlor ide . Indeed . Do you have any turns of phrase you are overly reliant on? Millie says. I can name a few. Go on then. Well, that's what the bingo card 's for. How's your energy? Yes. People in Radioland, legendary, can I be a bit basic? We'll edit that out. Let's unpack that . You're making me sound like a bot. It's not far away. The loop bot . Um did I say people I've stopped saying people in Radio Land. There's a point where it seems like it's an affectation. I'm gonna retire all of these, I'm gonna find different words . And then if you spot one of them, we'll send you a free t-shirt . No if you spot one why we could we couldn't afford that