Juggling parenthood with a Hollywood career can’t be easy as both demand so much attention. These stars have opened up on how their careers have adapted to parenthood, revealing that they now pick roles differently because of the position they’re in. Some opt for roles that take a shorter time to complete so they’re away from their kids for less time, others just work less and some have to select roles that won’t deeply affect them because they’re worried their children will notice their different emotional state.
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett recently welcomed her first child and says she may now choose what she works on differently by being more selective: “Maybe I’ll be more discerning with the parts that I choose, because it takes me away from my home, but I’m very lucky I have a gig that I can kind of parent and work at the same time, for now, not many people get that.”
Reese Witherspoon
Reese will only work on one film a year now: “I only do one movie a year so that’s about three months out of the year and the rest of the time I’m kind of a stay-at-home mom. I have an office so I go to the office while the kids are at school. But I just, I go to the basketball game and the horseback riding competitions and all that kind of stuff and I really enjoy being a parent. It’s a real grounding experience and you know, I like the other parents. It’s fun.”
Marion Cotillard
Marion has to keep her work away from her son: “Before my family, everything in my life was dedicated to the character. But I cannot lock myself away in another world any more. I don’t want it to affect my son when I’m in a weird state because I’m ‘depressed’ or ‘killing a king’. My life is in constant movement, and I love it. But I do manage to take some time off. I want to see my son every day and do nothing but stare at him.”
Jessica Alba
Jessica admits she is pickier because she doesn’t want to unsettle her children: “I used to work 11 to 12 months a year on location and now I don’t. The roles that I take, certainly I bring them with me, but I don’t do as much. I’m much pickier about the roles that I accept.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth opted to take a break when she became a mother and says her career is now quite different: “Kind of quitting acting for three years to have kids and not really thinking about my career in that way and just thinking, I want to have kids, and I want to be home with them … I’ve changed my movie career a lot since having children.”
