Speaking previously with SpyHards Podcast, Richards admitted before being cast as a Bond girl that she’d never seen a 007 movie and was totally unaware of just how big the franchise was. Despite struggling with anxiety through auditions and a screen test with Pierce Brosnan, she did her homework by watching the older James Bond movies. And when cast as Dr Christmas Jones was pleasantly surprised to find the role to be brainy and athletic with a depth of character compared to what had come before.

Yet despite this, critics and audiences made fun of her part as a nuclear physicist who wore shorts and a tank top. Yet the 53-year-old believes if her character had been in a lab coat fans would be asking why she wasn’t a Bond girl. She said: “I just felt that she was strong and feisty and fun and didn’t care what she looked like.” Nevertheless, during the press tour it all became too much for her.

Richards confessed: “It was very hard when that movie came out because I did get a lot of flack for it and it was not easy for me with the magnitude of the press that I did. And to go out there knowing people were making fun of me, that was the first time in my career that I had to deal with something like that.

“It was very, very difficult for me and I just had to put a smile on my face and go out and do talk shows and then travel the world. I would go to my hotel room and cry because the reviews were making fun of me and saying stuff. It was very, very difficult.”

The 53-year-old also shared how The World Is Not Enough director Michael Apted, who died in 2021, apologised to her.

It turns out that during the filming of the 007 movie, Richards had suggested changes to her Bond girl that may have prevented some of the criticism that was thrown at her upon its release. Apted hadn’t allowed these changes and ended up regretting it.

She added: “It meant a lot to me that he [apologised to me]. Regardless of all that I am so grateful and proud that I was part of such an iconic franchise. You never forget it.”