Actress Diane Kruger reveals the 'ultimate gift' that changed her life

Daily Mail​

24-05-2025

Six years ago, Diane Kruger had an epiphany while at a showbiz party in New York. 'I thought, 'What am I actually here for?' Working as a model and actor I had attended so many amazing functions but the time comes when you say, 'Perhaps there might be something else out there for me.''
That same year, at the age of 42, something else did come along: her daughter, Nova. 'I was lucky. I had enough financial security – I thought, 'What else is there in my life I could possibly want or need?' Then Nova arrived when I needed her the most. She was the ultimate gift from life.'
Kruger, now 48, is today relaxing in pink leggings and a black sweatshirt at her home in Manhattan, New York. Nova is at school. Her partner, and Nova's dad, actor Norman Reedus, 56, is away filming a spin-off of The Walking Dead, the series that made him globally famous. All seems well, yet she tells me that for a long time she had zero intention of becoming a mother. 'I wanted to have a career and travel and not have attachments – to go to every party and not feel like I had responsibilities. And whether you like it or not, a baby takes over your world. So I didn't want children for a very long time.'
Kruger is now starring in Little Disasters, a six-part Paramount+ adaptation of British writer Sarah Vaughan's 2020 novel of the same name. The challenges of motherhood are at the forefront of her mind because the show is about a well-heeled London family struggling with the demands of raising three young children. Kruger plays perfectionist stay-at-home mother Jess. When her youngest child suffers an unexplained head injury, on duty at the hospital that day is one of her best friends, doctor Liz (played by Jo Joyner), who is forced to call social services. Cue police and social workers descending on a tight-knit group of friends in a highly bingeable TV drama of suspicion and counter-suspicion.
Kruger and her family rented a house in West London while filming; she likes the capital and happily sent Nova off to summer camps in the countryside, but says London traffic 'is the worst in the world'.
At the centre of Little Disasters are the constant judgments thrown at mothers everywhere. It turns out these are even faced by Hollywood stars. 'At the drop-off it's, 'Why isn't this kid dressed appropriately?' or 'Looks like the nanny is dropping her off again,'' says Kruger. 'At the same time the community of mothers I belong to is incredibly supportive. I couldn't be the mother I am without them.'
Before meeting Reedus in 2015, Kruger had been in a ten-year relationship with American actor Joshua Jackson, better known as Pacey in the celebrated 1990s teen drama Dawson's Creek. They split as her 40th birthday approached. By that time, she says, she'd changed her mind about kids. Even if she hadn't started dating Reedus (they met on the set of 2015 romantic drama Sky) she was prepared to have a child on her own. 'Oh yeah, for sure. I would have done it alone. But I didn't and, actually, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your little girl with her dad.'
Born Diane Heidkruger in Algermissen, a small north German town, her own father Hans-Heinrich was a computer engineer, an alcoholic and frequently absent; he and her mother Maria-Theresa had a messy break-up when Kruger was 13 (she has a younger brother, Stefan). 'My father was not very present so to see the relationship they [Reedus and Nova] have is one of the great pleasures of my life,' she says.
From a young age, she was driven and ambitious: in 1988, aged 11, she travelled to the Royal Ballet School in London to train as a dancer (without her parents, who had also sent her alone for English lessons in Dorset during school holidays).
Then a knee injury sustained during training required two metal plates, ending her dancing career (and still today causing her trouble in damp weather). Two years after that, in 1992, she was chosen to represent Germany at Elite Model Look, an annual modelling competition that had launched Gisele Bündchen and Cindy Crawford. She didn't win but stayed in Paris as a 15-year-old.
'Yes, I was alone. At the time they had an apartment block where young models could rent a room. I did that for six months and then rented my own apartment.'
It's striking that Kruger worries about Nova crossing the road, yet she lived in another country while so young. 'The world was different,' she says. 'It didn't feel odd. I grew up to be independent and I couldn't wait to start my life. I was dying to get out of that little village. I arrived in Paris thinking, 'I have got to be successful.' We were not a wealthy family, and I didn't have any money; I had to make it work. But yes, even though we have cellphones now I would still freak out if Nova got lost on the way home from school even for five minutes!'
When Kruger was a teenager in Paris, her mother warned her that if she heard about any misbehaviour she'd have to come home. She also told her daughter she didn't think she would make a very good model.
'And my mother wasn't wrong – I'm 5ft 7in so not some Amazon that blows everyone away when she enters a room,' she says.
Yet she soon wound up modelling for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Dior – and, more importantly, she found an influential backer. Fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld lived a few streets away from Kruger's Paris apartment and the fellow German took her under his wing.
'He was an amazing man. Larger than life, and I seem to be drawn to people like that. So big and unapologetic about what he thought and I always admire those types. He was a genius whether you like Chanel or not.' (Lagerfeld was the fashion house's creative director for 35 years.)
Kruger didn't have a close relationship with her father for obvious reasons, so does that explain why she is drawn to fatherly types? After all, when she eventually became an actor, she was similarly enthralled by demanding but loyal director Quentin Tarantino (Kruger appeared in his 2009 war caper Inglourious Basterds).
'No, I don't think it was a father thing in that sense. It was more that he saw me… Karl saw something interesting in me when I didn't see it myself,' she says. 'I always felt validated by him. And Quentin too is this powerful force who makes you part of his vision. He is a character, for sure, but I had the best time working with him.' (Kruger famously came to the director's defence in 2018 after he told her, on the set of Inglourious Basterds, that he needed to 'cut off your air and see the reaction in your face' to demonstrate how Christoph Waltz's character should throttle her.)
She has previously described her attraction to Reedus in similar terms, as her 'teenage dream of a man', and being drawn to his masculinity.
'With Norman the attraction is that he is so sure of who he is. Yes, I find that attractive and not just in men. The acting business can be flighty – people are always chasing the latest fad or fashion – and he isn't like that. I love that about him.'
Reedus has said he tried to propose while on a motorcycle trip in the state of Georgia but was scuppered by a thunderstorm, and so eventually popped the question at home when they and their daughter were snuggled up in bed. They have been engaged since 2021 – is there a date for the wedding?
She shrugs. 'No, not really. I dunno… we'll see.'
Kruger is charming and easy to talk to, but also tough. You sense that if she doesn't like something she'll say so. No wonder that, by her early 20s, she had decided modelling was 'the most boring thing I've ever done' and put herself through acting school at the private Le Cours Florent drama school in Paris.
She beat off 3,000 other hopefuls to land the role of Helen in the 2004 blockbuster Troy, alongside Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt ('a total dream to work with'). But some reviews were scathing. A New York Times critic dismissed Kruger as 'too beautiful to play a role of any substance'.
'And she was a female writer so she should have known better than to judge on appearance, right?' says Kruger. 'If anything it made me want to be even better and more ambitious. It was a long time ago but I remember being really shocked.'
Other aspects of filming were more unpleasant. She told Variety in 2022 that she had 'felt like meat' while being looked up and down by an unnamed studio director at an audition and had 'definitely come across the Weinsteins of this world from the get-go'. When Kruger first started out 'it just felt like, 'This is what Hollywood is like,'' she said. 'Also, I come from modelling and believe me, [men in that industry] have their moments.'
And now? 'I think it's better,' she tells me. 'There's always room for improvement. It's not one battle per se. I recently did a show with a 25-year-old French actress, and I asked her whether she'd ever experienced directors overstepping – she said it had never happened to her. They wouldn't dare! Young girls are much more outspoken now. When I was in my mid-20s there was no one to talk to – you just had to be aware.'
Little Disasters shows how far she has come. There's hardly a scene where she isn't assailed by her own demons, being bawled at by her husband or facing down cops and social workers. Kruger found playing embattled Jess exhausting, yet she was drawn to the role because, well, motherhood changes you.
'In every way and for good and bad. It takes a long time for a mum to find herself again after having a child. It took a good two years to get back to being me. My priorities changed.
'For example, I hated school – I went to Catholic school which was strict – so I tell Nova school is only there to help you find what you want in life, not the other way round.'
The characters in Little Disasters are burdened by work stress, redundancy, alcohol issues and fertility problems – it's not a glowing advert for prospective parenthood. And this seems to be a prevailing theme in the zeitgeist. No wonder the 27-year-old singer Chappell Roan recently said that she didn't know any parents who were happy.
'I would have been a terrible parent at 27,' says Kruger crisply. 'I see where Chappell Roan is coming from but for myself that's not true. Becoming a parent is pure joy and the most wonderful thing in life. You get to curate a new life. But yes, it can be scary, too, because you are responsible for another human being. Every time they cross the street on their own – what if they died? Those thoughts are in your head. And how many more summers will they hang out with you?'
Is Nova aware that her parents are famous? 'Norman gets stopped by fans in the street who want pics. She's aware of dad being very famous.'
Is Nova keen on acting? 'She hates being on stage for a school recital. At this point she wants to be a vet.'
Kruger is currently filming another tough role, in Each Of Us, about four women in the Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Second World War. Then there is her starring role as Marlene Dietrich in an eagerly anticipated five-part TV production. ('Still in the works,' she says.)
She and Reedus can pursue their careers because, luckily, Kruger's mum is now Nova's nanny: 'As any parent knows, not having childcare weighing on you every day is a special thing.'
But there is something else, too. After her childhood, Kruger has been able to find some closure: 'Me and my mum's relationship has got a lot better since she became Nova's nanny,' she says. 'Don't forget I left home at 15 so we didn't get those years when you become friends with your parents and hang out…
'I left as a child and quickly became a grown-up who didn't need any help from them. Now I am so grateful. I can see how she did her best.'
Kruger confidential
AI: terrific or terrifying?
Both in equal measure.
Your idea of holiday hell
A cruise.
Go-to karaoke song
'The Lady In Red'.
Last piece of clothing you bought
A lacy blouse by Dôen.
Spotify song of last year
Taylor Swift, 'Look What You Made Me Do' – by popular request from my daughter.
Last thing you took a photo of and sent to someone
My mischievous cat.
Film that makes you cry
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
Word you most overuse
F**k.
Astrology: believe it or bin it?
When it's a good prediction I believe it.
Favourite beauty product
Chanel Les Beiges water foundation.
Last thing you lost
My left bicycle glove – so annoying.
Go-to breakfast
Toast and jam.
Site you spend most time on
YouTube for Gabby's Dollhouse.
Best teeth in Hollywood?