January 20, 2009 - Singer Joss Stone is about to make her debut as a TV actress with a notable role in Showtime's The Tudors  dvd boxst as Anne of Cleves', the fourth wife of Henry VIII (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers). The Tudors is famous for some fairly graphic sex scenes, but when Stone was asked if she was nervous about such scenes at the Television Critics Association press tour last week, she pointed out to the journalists speaking to her that, "There was no consummation. She was a minger, remember?"

A minger is a term used for an ugly person, and Henry VIII infamously found Anne extremely unattractive, after their marriage preparations were made based off of seeing her image in a painting. Continued Stone, "She was a minger. He didn't want to have sex with her. They didn't want to consummate the marriage, and therefore, he was allowed to annul the marriage. Otherwise, it would have been a divorce, and being catholic, it was a little bit of a problem. Then he would have had to chop her head off, and that would have been messy!"

It should be pointed out that The Tudors producers have not attempted to put any notable makeup on Stone to make the attractive singer look ugly, saying their take on it was that Anne may well have been physically attractive – just not to Henry. For Stone though, that wasn't an issue, as she told us, "I wanted to play any part on this show. It didn't matter to me – I just wanted to be on it, to be honest. Because I had auditioned for another part before, and I couldn't take it because of the tour and that was really kind of gutting. I said to Beth Kline, who works at Showtime and is lovely, I said to her, 'Well, what I'll do is, I know you're not casting for the next one right now, but I'm going to keep these months free next year. And if you want me, I'm free! Just know that I'm free! If you don't, then it's cool. Then I'll have a couple of months off and I'll send myself somewhere.' So I was lucky, man. I'm a very, very lucky girl. I haven't really had that much experience and they just have got a lot of faith. They had more faith in me then I did in myself. "

So what part did Stone audition for originally? "Jane Seymour," she revealed, referring to Henry VII's third wife (Anne was the fourth). "I was supposed to play the English rose! But unfortunately, I play the German minger."

Though Anne of Cleves doesn't have quite the level of notoriety as, say, Anne Boleyn or others among Henry's six wives, Stone said that before she was cast, "I knew who she was. But oh man, I just completely forgot that she was German. Oh, was that stupid! I get myself in so much trouble… I answer yes to these things, because I just like doing it."

Stone admitted doing the German accent, "was difficult. The whole thing was a little bit different and a little bit worrying, because I'm not used to doing it. I'm not confident. I guess you get more confident as you go, but I can't stand here and tell you I know how to act. That would be a big, fat lie. I have no idea! I really don't! and I don't really know how to sing!" Those of us speaking to Stone laughed, considering her acclaimed talent as a singer, but she smiled and continued, "I honestly don't. I just make it up as I go along and see how it pans out."

Asked if she thinks it's bravery that motivates her, she said, "It really is. I like to scare myself a little bit. It makes it more interesting. But yeah, I suppose. You've got to go in head first. And there's no point in just putting your feet in a little bit. Because I get bored doing that. I'd rather do something that's just right there and then, you know? And if it goes wrong, then hey, I tried my best."