Helen Mirren claims tomatoes are bisexual
Oscar-winning actor Helen Mirren surprised audiences on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon after she casually claimed that tomatoes are bisexual”
On August 11th, the 80-year-old legendary actor remarked, “A tomato is a bisexual thing, you see,” to Fallon. After laughter at the statement, Mirren continued adamantly: “Well, it is!”
The Thursday Murder Club star appeared alongside co-star Pierce Brosnan. Unfazed by the response, she continued to share that she had made the discovery “very recently” thanks to “a problem” cultivating her own tomatoes.
“I just want to give you a tip about growing tomatoes,” Helen offered. “You know the little flower? Well, a good way to get a tomato out of a flower is you have to tremble the flower.” Mirren’s subsequent movement with her index finger made Fallon awkwardly insist that the conversation go elsewhere.
“Stop doing that,” he smiled back at her uneasily. “I’m not doing that at all to my tomatoes.”
It turns out that Mirren had her finger on a horticultural truth. Tomato flowers are considered “complete flowers” because they contain both male and female reproductive parts.
Mirren has a history of saying hilarious one-liners. One classic in her repertoire centres on the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2024, she said, “I always say, it’s so sad that Kurt Cobain died when he did, because he never saw GPS. GPS is the most wonderful thing, to watch my little blue spot walking down the street. I just find it completely magical and unbelievable.”
Her new movie, The Thursday Murder Club, which also stars Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie, arrives on Netflix on August 28th. It’s based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Richard Osman.
The synopsis reads: “The Thursday Murder Club follows four irrepressible retirees – Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley) and Joyce (Celia Imrie) – who spend their time solving cold case murders for fun. When an unexplained death occurs on their own doorstep, their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn as they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hand.”
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