Helen Mirren says she had an 'epiphany' after 9/11 that inspired her to become a US citizen

• Helen Mirren opened up about her dual citizenship in a recent interview with People.
• The British actress said she had an "epiphany" after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.
• "I thought, 'I'm an American,'" she said. "I got an American flag, and I put it outside my window."

Helen Mirren opened up about becoming an American citizen, describing the experience as "so moving."

In a recent interview with People, Mirren said the decision was partially inspired by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The London native was living in New York City at the time, preparing to star in the Broadway play "The Dance of Death."

"I saw the second tower come down," she told People. "I had an epiphany. I realized where my allegiance and my heart and my intellect lay in that confrontation between extremism, religiosity — all those things and everything that America represents."

"And I thought, 'I'm an American,'" Mirren added. "I got an American flag, and I put it outside my window."

The "Gosford Park" actress was appointed a dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 and currently holds dual citizenship.

"When I understood, which I hadn't quite grasped before, that I could be a British citizen and an American citizen — because I would not like to give up my British citizenship — then I thought, 'Well, that's great. That's the perfect world,'" she told People.

Mirren also said that her husband Taylor Hackford is American, as are her stepchildren. She said she had been an American resident "for a very long time" before officially becoming a citizen in 2017.

"I didn't realize how profound a feeling it would be," she said. "It brought up feelings of patriotism that I didn't think I had. I think it was to do with the intrinsic generosity of America."

Mirren, who will receive the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild later this month, is currently the only person to achieve the so-called Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

She won an Oscar in 2007 for her starring role in "The Queen," a Tony in 2015 for "The Audience," and has won four Emmys since 1999.