"I didn’t want to do it before it was the right time," McAdams said.
Rachel McAdams loves being a mom and doesn't mind that she waited a while to have kids. The 44-year-old is notoriously private about her family life with longtime partner Jamie Linden and their two kids. They share a 5-year-old son and a daughter who they welcomed in late 2020, per E! News.
“It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, hands down,” she once told The Sunday Times in 2018 of motherhood. “[People say] your life is not your own anymore, but I had 39 years of me, I was sick of me, I was so happy to put the focus on some other person," she told the British outlet. She finally settled down with her writer boyfriend Jamie Linden who she's been with since 2016. “I waited a long time [for motherhood]. It’s just how it happened. And I didn’t want to do it before it was the right time," the Oscar nominee said.
She further said how having a child has given her clarity. "You see everything through a particular lens: very sensitive, more open. It’s like being on an (airplane) all the time," she added, per USA Today.
The Canadian actress best known for playing Allie in 2004's The Notebook and Regina George in Mean Girls recently spoke to Bustle about her role in the new film adaptation of Judy Blume's Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. McAdams told the outlet, "I guess I always had a sense that it would be OK; either it's going to work out or it's not," when it came to pausing her career. She also said it was not too easy to play the mom of an adolescent in front of the camera while parenting a toddler and a newborn at the same time. Referring to having to pump and breastfeed between shots, she joked, "I felt like a milking machine." When posing for Girls. Girls. Girls. magazine in a breast pump she asked the images be edited as little as possible. "I’ve had two children. This is my body, and I think that's so important to reflect back out to the world,” she shared.
Rachel McAdams is looking forward to sharing her new film with her kids. #AreYouThereGodItsMeMargarethttps://t.co/YUM2QDU6UB
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) April 18, 2023
Her own experience with motherhood actually helped her career as she prepped for the role of Barbara Simon in the Judy Bloom adaptation while starring opposite Abby Ryder Fortson, who plays the 11-year-old lead. "As a mom, it's not too, too hard to find the messiness, the privilege of getting to watch a child grow up and be their parent," McAdams told PEOPLE in an interview published on April 17. "I think that's a really lucky place, a spot to be in, and I think Barb feels that."
References:
https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/rachel-mcadams-interview-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret
https://people.com/movies/rachel-mcadams-privilege-being-mom-are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rachel-mcadams-talks-disobedience-motherhood-and-metoo
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Gareth Cattermole
