Downton Abbey Star Jessica Brown Findlay Talks About Her Decision To Leave The Show

Downton Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay also admits she was 'naive' to flash her chest in her big-screen debut

Downton Abbey actress Jessica Brown Findlay admits she was 'naive' to flash her chest in her big-screen debut and opens up on her decision to leave the hit period drama.

She's become a household name thanks to her heartbreaking portrayal of character Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey, but although Jessica Brown Findlay is sure quitting the hugely successful show was the right thing to do, she says she does have a few regrets in her career.

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Prior to Downton, Findlay played a teenager who has an affair with an older man in the 2011 film Albatross, and in one scene she lifts up her top to show her breasts and says 'is that good enough?' when her character is asked to prove her age to buy cigarettes.

The 23-year-old actress told the Radio Times: 'To be honest, Albatross was naivety and not knowing that I could say no. I had no idea what was going to happen and thought I was going to be shot from behind.'

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Findlay also strips off in the hotly anticapated forthcoming Channel 4 adaptation of Kate Mosse's best-selling novel, Labrinth, but says she wouldn't do the scenes again.

'In Labyrinth it is a very fleeting moment that we shot in one take, but I did find it very odd being naked in front of lots of people and I think it's awful that women get so criticised about their bodies,' she said.

'I think if you're going to do a nude scene, be honest and natural. Otherwise I'd be starving myself for ever, which I just couldn't do!

'The idea that actresses would work out at the gym for a thousand hours beforehand... I was drinking pints and eating burgers. But actually, it's not something I would do again.'

Despite her career getting off to a hugely successful start, she's just filmed Winter's Tale opposite Will Smith and Russell Crow, the actress says her dream was to write while owning 'a little tea and sandwich shop'.

'Hollywood is not for me. I love acting, but I also love London,' she said adding that she left the hit show Downton because she didn't want to fall into her 'comfort zone'.

'My contract was ending and I was unsure about signing away another year. Leaving terrified me, and that's what made me want to do it,' she said.

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