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Helen Mirren issues plea to stop people from littering after clearing rubbish from a road in Italy

Actress Dame Helen Mirren poses for photographers at a special screening of Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, in a central London cinema, Tuesday, July 23, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
Helen Mirren shared the results of her clear up operation of litter in Italy (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

Helen Mirren has issued a plea for people to stop littering after she cleared rubbish from a road in Italy.

Mirren took to her Instagram page to explain how she and her sister spent an hour of their time clearing up.

Next to a picture of her adding to a bag of litter, the actress wrote the caption: “Cleaning up the trash on the road in Italy.

“My sister and I spent about an hour and cleaned up a whole long stretch. a simple thing but it makes a big difference. please don’t throw it.”

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It wasn’t long before Mirren’s Instagram followers started praising her for her kind efforts.

“You're a real role model,” wrote one, while another commented: “Makes me so angry when people drop litter - so easy to find a bin. Looks like you did an amazing job.”

A third user of the picture sharing site shared: “Wish there was more people like you and your sister great job.”

Mirren’s plea comes after she admitted that she and her family could have ended up homeless when she was growing up.

Helen Mirren poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Best Years of a Life' at the 72nd international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 18, 2019. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)
Helen Mirren poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'The Best Years of a Life' at the 72nd international film festival, Cannes, 2019. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)

Speaking to the Evening Standard following the announcement of her participation in a worldwide campaign to fight homelessness, Mirren said: “What is shocking to me is how a hard-working family doing their very best can be pushed into homelessness so quickly by the loss of a job when you have absolutely no financial back-up whatsoever and so many families are like that.

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“When I grew up my family was like that, there was no nice comfy bank account waiting to help you through a difficult time.”

“But I was lucky because my father didn’t get sick and didn’t have to stop his job and we survived,” she added.

“It could have been very easy for us at that point to slip into homelessness.

“When families are living from week to week, as so many families are, then only one thing has to go wrong there and if there is no help available they are pushed into that situation.”