"I never intended or expected that this character would be adopted by so many people. And, in a way, the thing that I find actually incredibly moving is how there are so many people who come up and want to share their stories with me of how tough their lives have been or how tough their lives are, and the struggles that they’re going through and the in some way the show, Doctor Who, and the character of River Song have somehow helped them through the extremely tough times they’re going though. That’s something that I never, ever expected to sort of happen. I never expected that River would be a sort of character who would provide the strength to people in their sort of darkest moments.
“But there’s one thing that I do say to people if they actually come and share their stories with me, and they sort of want to say ‘You have helped me survive, you’re the one,’ and I have to give it back to anybody who is going through struggles and has that feeling. The truth is that it’s not me, it’s you. You might watch the show. The show might really help you through, but the choice to continue pushing through, and the choice to find that bit of strength to keep on going hasn’t come from me, that’s come from you. And you must own that and know it.”
– Alex Kingston at Chicago TARDIS, 29 November 2015. [x]