Sophie Turner Just Opened Up About The Emotional Strain Of Motherhood (2024)

Speaking about her divorce from Joe Jonas in September 2023, the Game Of Thrones actor shared how the casual misogyny that surrounded the media's narrative of her being a 'bad mother' impacted her. 'It hurt because I really do completely torture myself over every move I make as a mother – mum guilt is so real! I just kept having to say to myself, "None of this is true. You are a good mum and you’ve never been a partier,"' the actor told British Vogue.

As Jonas and Turner struggled to align their plans for their children, Turner found strength in having to fight for the pair's two daughters. 'There were some days that I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I would call my lawyer saying, "I can’t do this. I just can’t." I was just never strong enough to stand up for myself,' Turner said. 'And then, finally, after two weeks of me being in a rut, she reminded me that it was my children I was fighting for. Once anyone says to me, "Do it for your kids," I’m doing it. I wouldn’t do it for myself, but I’ll find the strength for them.'

The Joan actor also shared how she learned of her first pregnancy. 'Maybe because I was so young, I sat on it for a week. Thankfully there were therapists there [on a Balinese retreat] to help me talk things through. I told my husband when I got back,' she said. 'I remember throwing the pregnancy test at him, saying "What do you think we should do? Do you think we should have it?" When you’re in your early 20s, life is so frivolous. At that point, I really didn’t know if I wanted to be a mother, but something changed in me that day. I just knew I had to have her.'

Scarlett Johansson has spoken about the challenges of motherhood while recalling her and ex-husband Romain Dauriac's experience raising their now-eight-year-old daughter Rose when she was a toddler.

On April 2, 2023 she told The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick: ‘It's really tough’.

The Marriage Story star shared: ‘I remember my daughter when she was two, I said, “This is great. I don't know what everybody is talking about.” And then she turned three, and it's like being in an emotionally abusive relationship.’

Johansson, who also shares her 20-month son Cosmo Jost with her husband Colin Jost, highlighted toddlers go through ‘mood swings’ and don’t hold back from expressing their needs.

She explained: ‘It's crazy, very intense emotional swings and so bossy and adamant. And, also these huge mood swings, constant mood swings...You're up and down constantly.’

Hinting at how she’s finding motherhood the second time around, Johansson gushed: ‘Having a baby is so lovely. They're so cute. They sit there and they love you and then that's it. And you just get love from them.’

But she brought the conversation back to what it’s like when they get older, saying: ‘You get a lot of grief from toddlers. Everything you do is wrong.’

Jessica Chastain and her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo welcomed their daughter Guiletta in 2018, with US weekly reporting at the time that the newborn arrived via a surrogate.

In December 2022, the mum-of-two revealed the 'shocking' career advice she gave to her daughter.

Chastain, who rarely discusses her family, told Marie Claire: 'Normally I never talk about my personal life. But I had a conversation with my daughter not that long ago.

'And when you're talking to kids it's like, "What do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to be a ballerina."And she was like, "I want to be a muma." And I was like, "That's a great thing to be. But you know, you can be more than one thing." She's like, "What do you mean?"

'I said, "Well, look at me, honey. I'm a muma. I'm an actress. I'm a producer. I'm a business owner. I'm a friend. I'm a cook." I started listing all these things.

'Like, I am many things, so you can be whatever you want. You can be the president. You can be a ballerina. You can be a muma. And it was so shocking for her to hear all of this.'

Chastain previously told Entertainment Tonight: 'A lot of kids play with Marvel characters and Barbies and that's fine, but my kid ... she plays with superheroes.'

The 335 star told the news outlet about the mum-friendly experience on set of the film, saying: 'Everyone feels empowered and valued.

'We had a trailer that was for children, and so how wonderful that, yes we can be successful and wonderful at our work, but we can also not have to shut down part of our life in order to do so.'

The star's comments came after her her 355 co-star, Dina Kruger, expressed similar thoughts about the atmosphere on set when speaking to Women's Health, saying it was 'wonderful' so many of the film's cast were mothers.

Gal Gadot opened up about childbirth, and revealed some rather refreshing thoughts about the process.

The actor is a mum-of-three to daughters – Alma, Maya, and Daniella – who she shares with husband Yaron Varsano. Her and the real estate businessman met at an Israeli desert party and have been married since 2008.

In InStyle's February issue, the Wonder Woman star discussed her adoration for childbirth, noting: 'I love giving birth. I would do it once a week if I could. It's so magical. And I always take epidurals, to be fair, so it's not so painful. Just the moment you feel like you're creating life, it's incredible.'

'Pregnancies are hard for me.'

Speaking adoringly about her daughters, Gadot, who stars as Cleopatra in the 2022 reboot, said: 'They're the only thing I make sure to keep as private as possible. I want them to be naive and safe and protected. I share a lot — I believe that if I went through experiences that people can relate to or learn from, great. But as far as my family goes, I'm very protective.'

She also discussed the most 'badass' thing she's done, adding: 'Shooting a movie while being pregnant, or when you have a baby.

'When you're on set, you're like a kite. You can fly so high and try to catch the air. Then you go back home to do your main shift as being a mother. It's not about me, it's, "OK, now I need to bathe Maya, feed Alma, put Daniella to bed."

'That is the badass thing I do: the juggling between my family life and my acting career.'

Gossip Girl alum Blake Lively and her Marvel star husband Ryan Reynolds are parents to three daughters, James, Inez, and Betty.

When speaking with E! News during New York Fashion Week in 2020, she spoke adoringly of her children.

Responding to a question about what would make her take on an acting role, that would limit time spent with her kids, Lively said: 'I guess I really have to really, really, really, really love it, because I'm just obsessed with my kids.'

Lively, who's been vocal about wanting a big family in the past, added: 'So, yeah, I think it's gotta really be worth it to take me away.'

During her 2019 Homecoming documentary, Beyoncé spoke about her and rapper husband Jay-z's three children – eldest daughter Blue Ivy, and twins Sir and Rumi.

The music mogul was the doting mum when saying: 'When you're a mother, there's a love that you experience with your kids that's deeper than anything you can imagine. The love is beyond earth.'

In 2019, she told ELLE: 'I think the most stressful thing for me is balancing work and life.

'Making sure I am present for my kids – dropping Blue off at school, taking Rumi and Sir to their activities, making time for date nights with my husband, and being home in time to have dinner with my family – all while running a company – can be challenging.'

Karlie Kloss became a first-time mother in March 2021, and she spoke openly about her struggles during early motherhood.

During an interview with WSJ. Magazine in December, the fashion model revealed she was in 'survival mode' after giving birth to her son Levi, who she shares with venture capitalist husband Joshua Kushner.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel recalled: 'How does everyone do this?' following Levi's birth.

Kloss also highlighted that her famous friends Ashley Graham and Emily Ratajkowski helped her to grow confidence, and that fellow model Irina Shayk supported her as she juggled motherhood with a demanding career.

This is despite her formerly insisting she wouldn't be roped into 'the mum group friendship thing'.

Recalling her former thoughts, Kloss said: 'That’s cute but that’s not going to be me.'

As for now, she said: 'I don’t make a move without asking my mum friends.'

The eldest of the Kardashian sisters, is married to Blink-182 band member Travis Barker.

But the other special people in Kardashian's life include her three children, Mason, Penelope and Reign, who she co-parents with her ex-partner Scott Disick.

Addressing her children in a June 2020 Instagram post, the Poosh founder wrote: 'As a mother, there is a natural instinct to protect my children from anything that might make them feel sad or unsafe.

'The pain and suffering inflicted by racism is not a thing of the past and I bare the responsibility to speak with my kids honestly and often about it, even when the truth is uncomfortable.'

The Crown actor Claire Foy opened up about the guilt she has experienced while juggling a high-flying career with motherhood.

Speaking to The Times in 2019 about why she had taken a year-long acting hiatus, the Emmy award-winning actor said: 'The guilt of it. The burden of it. It all seems too much.'

The mother to daughter Ivy Rose, who she shares with ex-husband Stephen Campbell Moore, added: 'I’m just breathing for the first time since I’ve been a mum.'

The year before, after revealing she had a breakdown at 23, the A Very British Scandalstar went on to say: 'Having her made me think, "You need to sort your life out." I just didn’t have to live like that. It was unbearable.'

While Dakota Johnson isn't a mum, she has shared her feelings on the topic of motherhood.

When addressing complicated feelings about being a mother in an interview with The Times, The Lost Daughter star Johnson said: 'For somebody like me, who isn’t yet a mother and maybe doesn’t want to be a mother, it makes that okay. Complicated, but okay.'

Johnson, who's in a relationship with Coldplay artist Chris Martin, added: 'It would also be cool if Cambridge [university] offered to freeze eggs.

'With technology, you can have a biological child until you’re 50. That’s cool.'

Back in 2017, Oscar-winning actor Jennifer Lawrence opened up about motherhood becoming less appealing to her with age.

While speaking to E! News about her role in the psychological thriller Mother! she said of her feelings towards motherhood: 'They are actually getting less and less as I get older, which is starting to worry me. I don't think that's how it's supposed to work!'

Seemingly a lot different to how she felt at the time of this interview, Lawrence added: 'When I was 21 or 22 I was like, "I can't wait to be a mother." Now I'm like...'

The Hunger Games star later welcomed her first child in February 2022, with her husband Cooke Maroney, who she married in 2019.

In December 2021 Friends alum Jennifer Aniston addressed ongoing pregnancy rumours, as well as assumptions that she's chosen a 'career over kids'.

Speaking unapologetically about the subject in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aniston said: 'It's like, "You have no clue what’s going [on] with me personally, medically, why I can’t … can I have kids?”', of those who speculate about her.

'They don’t know anything, and it was really hurtful and just nasty,' she added.

The Morning Show star, who was previously married to Brad Pitt (from 2000-2005) and later Justin Theroux (from 2015-2017), also rhetorically said: 'Am I still having twins? Am I going to be the miracle mother at 52?' before adding: 'Dolly Parton never had kids. But are people giving her sh*t for it? No, no one’s tried to put her in a white picket fence.'

During the Tuskegee University's Commencement Address in 2015, the US' former first lady and mother of daughters, Malia and Sasha, who she shares with Barack Obama's, spoke admirably of motherhood.

'I love our daughters more than anything in the world ― more than life itself. And while that may not be the first thing that some folks want to hear from an Ivy-league-educated lawyer, it is truly who I am,' she said.

'So for me, being Mum-in-Chief is, and always will be, job number one.'

Sex and the City star Kristin Davis has two adopted children – daughter Gemma Rose and son Wilson.

When opening up about her feelings towards dating as a single mum-of-two, Davis, who stars in SATC reboot And Just Like That..., with Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon, told The Times: 'I say to my children that I’d have to find somebody that was good enough to be in their lives.'

As for Davis: 'I was like, "Baby, it is me," before thinking "Oh my God, what am I going to do [on screen]?" Thankfully, Gemma didn’t get an eyeful.'

When asked if she wants to become a mother back in 2019, at which point she admitted to having 'baby fever', the actor said, per E! News: 'Yeah. Always. I've always wanted to, and added: 'I think, you know, whenever God wants it to happen.'

Chopra, who's married to Nick Jonas, added: 'I just have a few of my friends who are having babies right now and I'm like, "God I need to catch up!"'

On January 23, 2022, Chopra and Jonas welcomed their first child together via surrogate, confirmed to be a girl and understood to be called Malti Marie.

In a letter she penned to Time magazine in 2020, Angelina Jolie addressed parenting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The actor, who shares six children with former husband Brad Pitt, three of whom her and Pitt adopted, wrote: 'It is a lovely thing to discover that your children don’t want you perfect. They just want you honest. And doing your best. In fact, the more room they have to be great where you are weak, the stronger they may become.

'They love you. They want to help you. So in the end, it’s the team you build. And in a way, they are raising you up too. You grow together.'

The Eternals actor also recalled earlier thoughts about motherhood, after referring to her unstable youth.

She added: 'I never thought I could be anyone’s mum. I remember the decision to become a parent. It wasn’t hard to love. It wasn’t hard to dedicate myself to someone and something greater than my life.

'What was hard was knowing that from now on I needed to be the one to make sure everything was okay. To manage it and make it work. From food to school to medical. Whatever would come. And to be patient.’

Meghan Markle spoke lovingly of motherhood.

The duch*ess of Sussex, who shares son, Archie and daughter Lilibet with Prince Harry, said: 'It's magic, it's pretty amazing,' when presenting their son to the world in 2019, per The Mirror.

'I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy,' she added.

Kate Middleton spoke openly about having mum guilt.

Making an appearance on Giovanna Fletcher's Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, the duch*ess of Cambridge, who has three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, with Prince William, said of dealing with guilt as a mother: 'Yes absolutely, and anyone who doesn't as a mother is actually lying. Yes, all the time.'

She also said: 'There's such a pull, but I am such a hands-on mom, and whatever you're doing you want to make sure you're doing the uttermost best job you can for your children.'

The duch*ess referred to motherhood as 'a constant challenge' whereby mothers are 'always sort of questioning your own decisions, and your own judgments, and things like that, and I think that starts from the moment you have a baby'.

And she's also been relatable to many mothers when previously saying per Huffington Post: 'It is lonely at times and you do feel quite isolated, but actually so many other mothers are going through exactly what you are going through.'

Jennifer Lopez is a mother to twins Emme Maribel and Muñiz, Maximilian, who she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony.

When speaking on Good Morning America in 2018, the Maid in Manhattan actor discussed managing motherhood and her career.

She said: 'Listen, I’m ageing, like every mum out there. You have to juggle the kids and the working and the taking care of yourself. It’s not an easy thing.’

Lopez, who's now married to Ben Affleck, after the pair rekindled their romance from the early Noughties, added: 'You cannot imagine what it’s like to be a mum until you are a mum. I used to give my friends who have kids advice all the time, and they would look at me like I had three heads. And then, when I had you two, the minute I had you two, I literally apologised to all my friends.'

Mother-of-four Kim Kardashian, who shares her children with her ex-husband Kanye West, is known for sharing details about life with her children.

Eldest daughter North has been particularly in the spotlight due to her TikTok footage.

One of the sweetest things the SKIMS founder has said was during an episode of E! True Hollywood Story in 2019.

'I just love being a mum. It’s exhausting, it’s gruelling, but it’s the best,' she said, per US Magazine.

Kardashian, who had her last two children Chicago and Psalm, via a surrogate, said on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2019 ahead of the birth of her fourth child: 'I was kind of stressing that my house is so full, but I heard that parents of four are the most enlightened and calm of all parents.'

Later, during a conversation with journalist Bari Weiss, the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star said that daughter North intimidates her more than politicians.