“Having children changes everything. It changes your whole life, but it’s brutal and incredible,” said Jennifer Lawrence.
During the movie premiere of Jennifer Lawrence’s upcoming film Die, My Love at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in 2025, she shared how bringing her firstborn into the world had made her feel closely connected to the character Grace—a new mother who is struggling with postpartum depression and mental health challenges.
“It was really hard to separate what I would do as opposed to what [Grace] would do. I had just had my firstborn, and there’s not really anything like postpartum. It’s extremely isolating. She doesn’t have a community. She doesn’t have her people. But the truth is, extreme anxiety and extreme depression are isolating, no matter where you are. You feel like an alien,” said Lawrence during a press conference at Cannes on Monday.
The movie, directed by Lynne Ramsay, follows the painful journey of a new mother falling in and out of psychosis, and how she feels isolated and depressed in a new community — an experience that badly affects her relationship with her husband. Starring Robert Pattinson as Jackson, the father figure in the movie, the actor also expressed his emotions about the film, as he had also become a father last year with Suki Waterhouse.
“I think in the most unexpected way, having a baby gives you the biggest trove of energy and inspiration afterwards,” Pattinson stated when the actors were asked how having children had changed their careers.
Jennifer Lawrence also said that she was amazed by the fact that she could feel so much and that her heightened emotions changed her “creatively.” Later, she also joked about the whole ‘motherhood made her a better actor’ context: “I highly recommend having kids if you want to be an actor.”
