Jennifer Lawrence Details ‘Extremely Isolating' Postpartum Experience After 2nd Child
Jennifer Lawrence has garnered an Oscar for Best Actress since landing her breakout part in the 2010 thriller 'Winter's Bone.' But behind the scenes, her role is that of a doting mom, having welcomed her second child with husband Cooke Maroney earlier this year.
'Having children changes everything, it changes your whole life—it's brutal and incredible,' the actress, 34,
The psychological drama, directed by Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, premiered at the French film festival on May 17, drawing a six-minute standing ovation.
In the film, Lawrence portrays a writer and new mother named Grace, who struggles with her mental health after relocating from New York to a rural Montana farmhouse with her husband, played by actor Robert Pattinson.
'Die, My Love' is an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz's Argentinian novella 'Matate, amor.' Originally published in 2012 and made available in English five years later, the book provides an intensely raw exploration of motherhood, plunging readers into the mind of a woman grappling with postpartum depression and psychosis.
'There's not really anything like postpartum—it's extremely isolating,' Lawrence said at the press conference. 'But the truth is, extreme anxiety and extreme depression are isolating, no matter where you are. You feel like an alien.'
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The 'Hunger Games' star drew upon her own experiences with postpartum depression for her new role. The actress, whose son, Cy, was born in February 2022, was around five months pregnant with her second child when production began on 'Die, My Love.'
'A part of what [Grace] is going through is the hormonal imbalance that comes with postpartum,' Lawrence said. 'But she's also having an identity crisis. Who am I as a mother? Who am I as a wife? ... And I think she's plagued with this feeling that she's disappearing.'
The Cleveland Clinic
However, postpartum depression, which is characterized by overwhelming feelings of sadness and loneliness, is a far more severe and prolonged condition, affecting roughly 1 in 7 mothers. If left untreated, it can persist for months or even years after childbirth.
Gwendy Gregory, a certified birth and postpartum doula based in Tampa, Florida, told The Epoch Times that the intense emotional challenges women face after giving birth, though incredibly common, are often unspoken.
'After birth, many mothers feel like the world keeps turning while they are standing still. There's a surreal mix of love, exhaustion, vulnerability, and identity shift that can feel alienating,' the All Is Well Doula founder said.
The hormonal fluctuations new mothers experience, including drops in estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol levels, only amplify these feelings.
'Isolation can quickly become overwhelming,' the mother of five said. 'We weren't designed to mother alone. We were meant to be surrounded, supported, and seen.'
Columbia University
'It's a tender window where rest, nourishment, and support are essential for healing and bonding,' Gregory said. 'Unfortunately, our culture often celebrates the baby while forgetting the mother. But thriving babies need thriving mothers.'
In addition to contending with the baby blues or postpartum depression, mothers can also face a slew of other complications, including difficulties breastfeeding, physical trauma from birth, and even grief over their former self.
And like the fictional Grace, real-life mothers may also encounter psychosis, experiencing an altered sense of reality, marked by hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia, among other serious behavioral changes. The rare but serious mental health emergency affects about 1 in 1,000 women and carries an increased risk of suicide and harm to the baby, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
'Postpartum is sacred,' Gregory said. 'It's messy, beautiful, exhausting, and holy all at once. And when we honor it with intention—whether through community care, mental health support, or simply showing up with compassion—we give mothers the space to heal and thrive.'
Touching on the joys of motherhood after navigating her own postpartum challenges, Lawrence said her children have given her a newfound outlook on her craft as an actress.
'I didn't know that I could feel so much, and my job has a lot to do with emotion,' she told the media at Cannes.
'They've opened up the world to me. It's almost like feeling like a blister or something, [it's] so sensitive. So they've changed my life obviously for the best, and they've changed me creatively.'
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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lockerbie: Remembering the victims of Flight 103
Almost 40 years on, it seems surprising there are still new stories to tell about the Lockerbie disaster. The destruction of Pan Am 103 in the skies above the small Dumfries and Galloway town on 21 December 1988 is one of the most chronicled events in recent British history. A bomb exploded in the plane's cargo hold, causing the Boeing 747 to break up at 31,000ft as it flew from Heathrow to New York. All 259 passengers and crew on board were killed, along with 11 people in Lockerbie who died when the plane fell on their homes. It remains the biggest terror attack to have taken place on British soil. Coverage tends to focus on anniversaries, but the past six months have brought two big-budget television dramas and later this year a play about the town's response to the disaster will debut at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre. Now, a BBC Scotland documentary aims to tell some of the less well-known stories about those who died on the flight, and about those they left behind. Among the victims on the plane was Tim Burman, a 24-year-old banker who was flying to New York to spend Christmas with his girlfriend, Rose Grant. Tim was the youngest of four and the only boy. His three sisters - Rachel, Tanya and Fiona - remember him as an "arty, sporty" brother who was keen on the environment and loved running in the Scottish hills. Tanya says: "He genuinely was easy-going and fun, really good fun". Rose, who Tim met while he was on a gap year in Australia, says: "I enjoyed his sense of humour, his style, sense of adventure, ability to get on with everyone. They all mourn his lost potential. His sister Tanya says: "He's both the brother we had, but also a victim of Pan Am 103." Rose believes Tim and his death created a huge bond between them all. "Tim is everywhere in the conversation and the mannerisms of Rachel, Tanya and Fiona," she says. "Our connection is held together by him still." Olive Gordon was 25 and a hairdresser from Birmingham. She had bought a last-minute ticket on Pan Am 103 and was planning on enjoying some shopping in New York in the run up to Christmas. "She was just yapping. She said 'I'm going to America tomorrow. Going to buy stuff'. She loved shopping," her sister Donna says. Donna describes Olive as "very bubbly, very full on. You just would not forget her if you knew her". Olive was one of nine siblings. "I have always asked 'why her? why my sister?'" her brother Colyn says. "And it's something that you sort of battle with. And I'm still battling with it, a little bit. Well, not a little bit, a lot." Her family believe she would have been in business now, something involving hair and beauty. "She would probably be an influencer right now," Donna says. William MacAllister, known as Billy, was a 26-year-old professional golfer from Mull. He was heading to the USA for a romantic break with his girlfriend Terri. Her friends say Terri was hoping Billy was about to propose. Fellow golf pro Stewart Smith worked with Billy at a course in London and remembers his friend as a natural comic with a zest for life. "He was a very funny guy. Great sense of humour, great sense of fun," he says. "He had moved to Richmond Park, so I went across and worked with Billy. Imagine living in London in the mid-80s when you're mid-20s, both of you. "We had some great times." Back in Mull, family friends have put a memorial bench on the course at Tobermory, where they say Billy played every day after school and every weekend from the age of 12. They remember him as "some guy". Family friend Olive Brown says: "Every December I do have a wee sad moment, thinking he's not here. All that potential, enthusiasm and ability got caught short." Colyn and other members of Olive Gordon's family visited Lockerbie in the days after the disaster. It was a shocking scene. "I remember the crater, this huge hole, and these little bits all over the place. It just had this smell. My God, my sister was found here. Somewhere here," he says. In the weeks that followed, members of the local community came together to wash, press and package up the belongings of those who had died on the plane. The Lockerbie laundry has become a symbol of the kindness shown by the people of the town. They treated the dead and their families with love and care while coping with their own immeasurable trauma. Colyn says: "Just thinking about it now makes me emotional. Because these people, they don't know you, they've never met you. But the way they treated you is as if they were family. "The people of Lockerbie showed how humanity works. How to display compassion, to display love. I'll never forget them. "I don't know if it's quite macabre to say this but I've always said I am glad that's the place that my sister's life was ended. Because of the type of people that live in this place." The events of the night of 21 December 1988 have resonated across the decades. In 2001, a Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, was convicted of the bombing and 270 counts of murder, following a trial in front of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands. His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was found not guilty. Suffering from terminal prostate cancer, Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds in 2009. He was returned to Libya and spent the next three years living in a villa in Tripoli before finally succumbing to his illness in 2012. Ten years later, Libyan Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, was taken into American custody after being removed from his home in Tripoli. He is awaiting trial in the USA, accused of building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103. Today, the town of Lockerbie remembers the disaster in its own, quiet, way. Pupils from the secondary school can apply for a scholarship to spend a year at Syracuse University, in memory of 35 students from there who died in the bombing. There is a memorial garden on the edge of the town, as well as plaques in Sherwood Crescent and Park Place, the two sites where most of the plane came down. Nearby Tundergarth Church, which overlooks the field where the nose cone was found, is also a site of remembrance. But more than anything, the Lockerbie bombing victims are remembered by those they left behind. Every year in Tobermory, members at the golf club play for the cup which carries Billy MacAllister's name. And his friend Stewart has a special reason to remember him. "He had a big impact on my life really because, had Billy not enticed me to go and work over at Richmond, I would probably have not got to know my then girlfriend, who became my wife. My life would have been a very different one from what it became," he says. "What a shame he didn't get a chance to go on and fulfil his potential." For Rose, Tim's early death has shaped the course of the past four decades for all those who loved him. "I think the gift that Tim's given us is to live our lives. I always feel that I owe that to him. Get out and do it." Olive's death has had the same effect on Colyn and their siblings. "Olive would have wanted us to live a good life, a full life. Like how she lived. Having a good time." Lockerbie: Our Story will be available on the BBC iPlayer from 22:00 on Monday 2 June and will be shown on BBC Two at 21:00 and BBC Scotland at 22:00 on Tuesday 3 June. First look at new BBC and Netflix Lockerbie drama Lockerbie bombing: The ultimate detective story? Timeline: Lockerbie bombing
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Snapping Tel Aviv: Alex Levac on capturing the city that never sleeps
Israel's city that never sleeps was founded over Passover, 1909, during the counting of the Omer leading up to Shavuot. Photographer Alex Levac sees things the average person on the street doesn't catch. When we meet up at his Tel Aviv apartment, a stone's throw away from the beach, I ask the evergreen octogenarian, who was awarded the Israel Prize for his groundbreaking photography 20 years ago, where the notion of snapping incongruous yet complementary overlaps first emerged. 'I don't know. Perhaps I got it from the French photographers, like Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson,' he suggests bringing the lauded humanist documentarists into the philosophical equation. 'But, it was mostly a British photographer called Tony Ray-Jones.' Those men were powerful sources of inspiration, who shined a bright light on his own path to visual expression, Levac says. 'I didn't invent anything. You know, you see something you like and you think, 'I'll try to do something like that.'' The above lauded trio may have sparked the young Israeli's imagination and sowed the seeds for one of his main lines of thought and endeavor, but it was something of a slow burner. 'I left Israel for London in late 1967,' he says. 'I left Israel for a year and stayed 14 years. But I came back from time to time, to visit family and friends.' And snap a few frames, he may have added. Levac studied photography in London in its Swinging Sixties heyday, and subsequently worked in the field in Britain. But the time and, in particular, the place were not aligned with Levac's native cultural continuum. 'I don't think, then, I looked for these [idiosyncratic] confluences. That didn't interest me outside the Israeli context.' But the idea of getting into that after he returned here to roost was gestating just below the surface. 'I thought that it was more interesting to do in Israel because I am more familiar with the culture and the visual language.' Evidently, there is more to what Levac does than observing quotidian jigsaw pieces align themselves and pressing the shutter release button at exactly the right happenstance microsecond. 'It is not just a combination of all sorts of anecdotal elements. There is, here, also a statement about the Israeli public domain.' The dynamics of human behavior, of course, can vary a lot between differing societies. In Israel, we are much more physically expressive than the average Brit or, for that matter, Japanese. ONCE RESETTLED in the Middle East, the mix-and-match line of photography soon took on tangible form, without too much premeditation. 'I don't remember exactly when it started but I took one of the first shots one day when I was in Ashkelon. I lived there at the time with my first wife. I started seeing a lot of contrasts on the street, coming together at the same time.' It was around that time that still largely conservative Israel got its first tabloid newspaper, Hadashot, which shook up the industry and Israeli society, and introduced it to risqué material and full-color photographs. Levac was soon on board and, before too long, also found himself in hot water as a result of the now-famous news picture he took. 'That was Kav 300 (Bus 300),' he recalls. The said snap was of a terrorist being led away from the scene after IDF soldiers stormed an Egged bus in which passengers were being held captive. The initial official IDF report was that all four Palestinian terrorists had been killed in the attack. However, Levac's picture provided irrefutable evidence that one of the terrorists was still alive after the operation was over. 'They shut the paper down for a while after that.' Brief hiatus notwithstanding, Levac had, by then, established himself as a bona fide photojournalist here. 'I had a regular column in a Hadashot supplement called 'Segol' (purple). They had very visual-oriented editors at the time, so photographers were given a lot of column space. Then I got my regular weekly spot. I've been doing that for around 40 years, every single week. That's crazy!' That may be wonderful, but it comes with a commitment to produce the visually left-field goods, week in and week out. 'Sometimes I can just pop out and I'll find something really good, very quickly. Other times, it can take a while, and there are times I come back without having taken a photograph,' he says. After all these years, Levac's sixth sense is constantly primed and ready to pick up on some unexpected sequence of events that could fuse into an amusing or captivating frame. Anyone who has seen his candid snaps, which have been running in the Haaretz newspaper for the past three-plus decades, will have a good idea of his special acumen for noting and documenting surprising, and often humorous, street-level juxtapositions. 'By now, I see those kinds of things more than I see the ordinary stuff,' he smiles. 'I also look for that, like Gadi.' GADI ROYZ is a hi-tech entrepreneur and enthusiastic amateur photographer. Levac recalls that 'Gadi came up to me one day and told me he'd attended a lecture of mine and began taking photographs,' he recalls. At first, Levac wasn't sure where it was leading. 'You know, you get nudniks telling me how much they like my photographs and all that,' he chuckles. 'You have to be nice when people do that, but it can get a bit tiresome.' However, it quickly became clear that Royz was in a different league and had serious plans for the two of them. 'Gadi didn't just want to be complimentary; he said, 'Let's do a book together.'' Producing a book with high-quality prints can be a financially challenging business. But, it seems, Royz didn't just bring boundless enthusiasm and artistic talent to the venture; he also helped with the nuts and bolts of putting the proposition into attractive corporeal practice. In fact, the book, which goes by the intriguing name of A City of Refuge, is a co-production together with Royz, who, judging by his around 40 prints in the book, also has a gift for discerning the extraordinary in everyday situations, and capturing them to good aesthetic and compelling effect. The city in question is, of course, Tel Aviv, where Levac was born and has lived for most of his life. 'Gadi said he had the money to get the book done,' Levac notes. That sounded tempting, but Levac still wanted to be sure the end product would be worth the effort. 'We sat down together, and I saw some of his photographs. I liked them, so I said, 'Let's go for it.'' And so A City of Refuge came to be. There are around 100 prints in the plushly produced volume. All offer fascinating added visual and cerebral value. There is always some surprise in store for the viewer, although it can take a moment to absorb it, which, in this day and age of lightning speed instantaneous gratification, is a palliative boon. The unlikely interfaces, which can be topical or simply contextually aesthetic, may be comical, arresting, or even a little emotive. Every picture demands a moment or two of your time and, as Levac noted in the dedication he generously wrote for me in my copy of the book, can be revisited for further pondering and enjoyment. The book is great fun to leaf through. One of Levac's more sophisticated items shows a man sitting on a bench with a serious expression on his face, which is echoed and amplified by a childish figure on the wall behind him of a character with a look of utter glumness. There's a smile-inducing shot by Royz (following in Levac's photographic footsteps) with a young, heavily pregnant woman walking from the left, about to pass behind a spiraling tree trunk with a hefty protrusion of its own. Royz also has a classic picture of Yaacov Agam's famed fire and water sculpture, in its original polychromic rendition in Dizengoff Square of several years ago. The picture shows two workers cleaning the work, each on a different level. The worker on the top level is visible from his stomach upward, while his colleague, on the street level, can only be seen from his waist down. Together, they looked like an extremely elongated character, something along the lines of a Tallest Man in the World circus performer. It is often a matter of camera angle, such as Royz's shot of a wheelie bin in Yarkon Park with a giant hot balloon-looking orb looking like it is billowing out of the trash can. And Levac's delightfully crafted frame of an elegant, long-haired blonde striding along the sidewalk led by her sleek canine pal, which appears to have an even more graceful step, poses a question about the human-animal grace divide. I wondered whether, in this day and age if – when we all take countless photos with our smartphones, of everything and everyone around us – his job has become harder. 'Quite the opposite,' he exclaims. 'Now that everyone takes pictures, people notice me less, which means I can do what I want and snap with greater freedom.' Long may that continue. ■
Epoch Times
8 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Documentary ‘State Organs' Screens at Seoul Film Festival Despite Pressure to Cancel
The award-winning documentary 'State Organs' was screened at a film festival in South Korea's capital on May 30, after organizers were forced to change venues three times due to ' .' The film exposes a ' harrowing government-run organ harvesting operation ' in China, seven years gathering evidence and interviewing families of victims to complete the documentary. The Seoul Larkspur International Film Festival, an annual event centered on the themes of justice, freedom, and human rights, selected 'State Organs' as its opening film. Other films spotlighting human rights abuses in China and North Korea were also scheduled, with organizers reporting significant pressure from unnamed sources while finalizing the screening list. The festival's opening ceremony was ultimately held at KBS Hall, at the Korean Broadcasting System headquarters in Seoul—but not without obstacles. , one of the event's guest speakers, praised the organizers' perseverance and public support. 'I've seen real hope,' Tae said on stage, addressing the packed hall. 'When I first received the invitation, I had no idea how many people would come.' Related Stories 5/22/2025 5/14/2025 'Although we lack government support and haven't secured major sponsorships or donations, we'll continue to speak out for freedom, justice, and human rights,' Tae added. A former North Korean diplomat who to South Korea in 2016, Tae served in the 21st National Assembly and currently holds the position of Secretary General at the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, a bipartisan presidential advisory body. Last-Minute Cancellations The Seoul Larkspur International Film Festival team spent a full year preparing for the five-day festival, which was held from May 30 to June 3. Initially, they arranged screenings at CGV, one of Korea's top cinema chains. After CGV pulled out, organizers moved the event to MEGABOX Dongdaemun, another major theater operator. However, on the eve of the festival's opening, MEGABOX unilaterally canceled all screenings, citing the ' ' of the films. This left organizers scrambling to relocate the event at the last minute. Director Calls for Investigation Raymond Zhang, director of 'State Organs,' told The Epoch Times that during screenings in Taiwan last year, his team received hundreds of threats via email and social media and faced online harassment from Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-aligned networks. 'I hope Korean authorities investigate whether Chinese interference was involved in the cancellations and bring the truth to light,' Zhang said. (L-R) Panel host Roman Balmakov, film director Raymond Zhang, and Wang Zhiyuan, director of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, speak during a panel discussion after a screening of "State Organs" at Village East by Angelika in New York City on Nov. 9, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times 'This Crime Must Be Stopped' Min Kyung-wook, a former Korean lawmaker and presidential spokesperson, shared his reaction after viewing the documentary. The 'testimonies of families struggling in pain, the firsthand accounts of doctors involved in [extracting organs], and the confessions of police and soldiers who once carried out persecution and torture left me so shocked that I wished none of it were true,' he told The Epoch Times. Min condemned the CCP's forced organ harvesting of mainly Falun Gong practitioners, calling it 'a crime against humanity.' 'It's almost beyond belief that such atrocities are being systematically carried out to suppress faith, elevated to the level of state-sponsored, industrial-scale operations,' he said. 'I hope the truth reaches not just the Korean people, but the global community—so these crimes can be stopped as soon as possible.' 'We must stop this brutal slaughter from continuing. We must pay attention. We must act,' Lee told The Epoch Times after watching the film. 'If Koreans Don't Wake Up, We'll Become Another China' Dayner Kim, a well-known South Korean YouTuber with over 288,000 subscribers, also spoke out after attending the State Organs screening. He said the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong and organ harvesting is widely known, but the film's focus on a single family presents that reality with a depth that's emotionally devastating. 'It left me with a profound sense of grief and solidarity,' Kim said. Kim also condemned the sudden cancellation of multiple human rights films at MEGABOX. 'There are forces in South Korea working in tandem with the CCP to block any content that criticizes or exposes its crimes. That's why we're seeing sponsorships withdrawn, venues revoked, and films banned,' Kim said in an interview after the screening. Other films affected by the last-minute cancellation include ' ,' ' ,' and ' .' The first two films depict the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual faith, in China, and the third film is a documentary on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement in 2019. He added a pointed warning: 'If the Korean people aren't outraged—if we don't wake up—this country could become another China, no different from a nation under CCP rule.' Lee, from the University of Ulsan, expressed deep frustration over the obstacles the film faced in being screened, calling it 'painful and infuriating.' 'What kind of sovereign nation are we if a film can't even be shown freely?' he asked. 'We're seeing clear evidence that the CCP has deeply infiltrated many sectors in South Korea—politics, the arts, academia. It's heartbreaking.' While condemning the CCP for its interference in South Korea, Lee reminds people to distinguish Chinese people from the CCP. 'The film draws a clear distinction between the two—that's what makes this film so meaningful,' Lee said. 'The Chinese people must be freed from the CCP's oppression, and South Korea must break free from its influence,' Lee added. Organ Tourism and the Urgency of Exposure A 2017 by South Korea's TV Chosun revealed that with low domestic organ donation rates, only 10 percent of the 32,000 patients in need ever receive a transplant. As a result, many Koreans seek quicker options in China, where wait times are shorter and access is easier—despite growing concerns over the source of those organs. State Organs is now featured on the website of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting ( ), an organization founded by medical professionals to expose and end forced organ harvesting practices. The film is no longer available on the internet. DAFOH describes forced organ harvesting as a 'crime against humanity' and works globally to promote ethical medical standards and protect human dignity. Cindy Song, one of the producers of 'State Organs,' emphasized the importance of the film's message for Korean audiences. 'The victims in the film are from Qingdao, which is just across the sea from South Korea,' she said. 'I believe it's important for the Korean public to hear this story.' An Jing contributed to this report.
