Bond babe Gemma Arterton's tough upbringing keeps her grounded

London, Sept 10 : English actress Gemma Arterton has revealed that her tough upbringing has helped her stay level-headed.

Arterton, who is the new love of James Bond in the movie Quantum of Solace, recalled the first time she was recognized by a young lady who wanted to take her picture.

"I thought, 'Is it an art project or does she like my top?' She said, 'No, I want a picture of Gemma Arterton.' I went, 'Mum, this is a moment in my life. This has never happened before.' I told the woman, 'You're my first'," the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

The actress, whose father works as a welder and mother as a cleaner in Gravesend in Kent, has been brought up in a very unstarry fashion.

"She's very proud but she doesn't go on about it," Arterton said.

"She was never that into film when I was growing up. When I got to drama school there were all these people going, 'Oh, my dad used to watch Ken Loach films,' and I would be thinking, 'Who is Ken Loach'?" she stated.

Arterton has proven many times that she lacks pretension, and an example of such was when she was offered a chauffeur-driven car after a shoot.

"I just don't want it. Can I get on the Tube please and go home?" she had said at the time.

She had even admitted earlier about paying off her student loans. "I still have student debts to pay off. And I think I've used most of my earnings buying bits from Primark," she said.

Another incident, which stands out, was her red carpet gaffe at the St Trinian's premiere, when she wore her borrowed Louis Vuitton dress the wrong way round.

"I didn't know until I was on the red carpet," she confesses.

"I got out of the car and the wind blew, exposing my bum. Pippa, my publicist, came over and said, 'Gemma, I think you've got your dress on back to front'," she added.

Now Arterton has upgraded from "a hole of a room in West Kensington that smelled of damp and had no window" to a nice flat in Highgate shared with her sister Hannah, also an actress.

ANI