Washington, August 14 : Veteran actress Dame Helen Mirren has lashed out at people who think that childless women are sad as "bulls**t".

The Oscar winner recently admitted that she is more contented without kids and isn't disappointed at not having any of her own.

"I am thrilled that I don't have children - I have the thing I love, which is freedom. In a funny way, if you don't have children, you can concern yourself more generously with the extended family and let other people have the children," Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

"It's a bit of a guilty secret because as a woman, you're almost expected to be sad if you don't have children, but that's bulls**t. There have always been women who don't have kids," she added.

Meanwhile Mirren has revealed that getting older has helped her get more comfortable with on-screen nudity.

"As you get older, the naked stuff gets easier because it's more to do with the role than what the men in the audience are thinking. There's a liberation about it," she said.