Alan Cumming's dog helps heal Scottish leader's fear
GLASGOW, Scotland — Dogs have been the leader of Scotland's greatest phobia — that is until she met a famed actor's dog at a dinner at her official residence last week.
Alan Cumming, star of TV's The Good Wife and of stage's Cabaret, helped First Minister Nicola Sturgeon overcome a lifetime anxiety of dogs after she was introduced to his "very soothing" pet pooch Lala.
The actor, from Aberfeldy, Scotland, about 75 miles northwest of Edinburgh, Scotland, said dogs had been the politician's "Kryptonite" until her meeting with Cumming's pet, which he regularly shows off on social media.
Sturgeon — who was once described as the "most dangerous woman in Britain" — previously confessed on Twitter that she suffered a "fear" of the animal "rather than an aversion" but it wasn't "the dogs' fault."
At a visit to a school in Edinburgh on Thursday, Cumming — who is performing at the Edinburgh International Festival — said: "Nicola Sturgeon actually came to see my show the other night. She invited me and my band for dinner at Bute House.
"Nicola came to the show and then she came to the bar for a drink, and Lala came to that.
"Nicola is actually terrified of dogs, I didn't know that, it's her Kryptonite, it's the one chink in her armor.
"But she actually said because Lala is so lovely, and a very soothing dog, it's the first dog then Nicola had ever felt safe with — isn't that nice?
"Lala is a calming influence for world leaders," he added.
Cumming was very candid in answering questions from students at Castlebrae Community High School.
He spoke about his favorite films, inspirations, his extremely dim view of Donald Trump and Brexit, his support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Obama.
Cumming, who lives in New York and is an American citizen, retains an apartment in Scotland.
In speaking about the American presidential campaign, Cumming said he would vote for Clinton.
"America right now, it is a scary, scary time because Donald Trump is a frightening person. I don't think he is going to win, it looks like the tide has turned and Hillary is going to win, but just before I came here it was a scary time. It looked like he actually could win," he said.
He later added, when asked what his greatest fear was: "My biggest fear is how fear can be used, actually, and the Brexit thing and Donald Trump in America are two examples of how politicians and people in positions of power abuse their positions by making people scared about things to try and get them to do what they want.
"The Brexit thing: I think people were scared about something about that didn't really exist.
"We have seen it in different times in history. With Donald Trump we have seen him say horrible things about people's race, about women, about disabled people, even sort of encouraging people to shoot Hillary Clinton. ... He is encouraging violence at his rallies, and that is what dictators did, that is what Hitler did, that's what Mussolini did, so that really worries me."
He added: "We live in scary times and it is easy for dangerous people to be elected into power."
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