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Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I stood near the road terrified I'd push my baby into the path of traffic'
A mum has opened up about her battles with perinatal OCD after welcoming her second child, sharing the impact this had on her, and how she cured the intrusive thoughts in her head After giving birth to her newborn, a mum of two battled with intrusive thoughts that left her "terrified". Now, she's shed light on the true toll perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can take. Sarah Vaughan has opened up about the mental health difficulties she endured after welcoming her second child, which saw her head swirling with unwelcome thoughts, images and ideas. Thoughts of harming her children, dropping them, or even pushing her buggy into oncoming traffic were just some of the battles she faced. And she's far from the only mother who has had to contend with this. Author and journalist Sarah poured her experiences of living with perinatal OCD into her thought-provoking novel Little Disasters. The book has now also been made into a six-part series. The protagonist, Jessica, played by Diane Kruger, is based loosely on Sarah's personal experiences. While not as severe as her book character's story, Sarah's struggle was still a serious one. "I knew I wasn't depressed, and I gave every impression of being a competent mother, taking my children to baby groups, cooking everything from scratch and striving to be a domestic goddess. I clearly didn't resemble Diane Kruger, whose character experiences perinatal OCD to a far more extreme degree than me, but I washed my hair and wore mascara every day. I was hardly going to tell a health visitor that I'd stood at the side of the road with my buggy, terrified to cross for fear of pushing it into an oncoming car," she told Sunday Times. Perinatal OCD is characterised by these thoughts, but they usually stop due to fear of harming the baby. Dropping a baby is a 'typical' intrusive thought people can have. Having a fear of germs is also a common OCD form, as well as rituals and compulsive behaviours. Sarah continued: "When I started writing Little Disasters in 2017, perinatal (then maternal) OCD wasn't something I'd ever read about. Yet I knew it existed. Though I was never diagnosed, I experienced it mildly after having my second baby, when a perfect storm of circumstances — a difficult pregnancy in which I was unable to walk, chronic pain, giving up the job that had validated me, a move 50 miles away at 30 weeks pregnant, and my subsequent social isolation — meant I experienced intrusive thoughts about my baby son and tiny daughter being harmed." She recalled how these thoughts and behaviours can cause "considerable distress" even though mothers may feel "split" and know deep down it isn't a reality. Consultant perinatal psychiatrist Dr Maddalena Miele pointed out that these are very "intrusive, ego-dystonic thoughts". Dr Miele said: "They can be very graphic and very intense, and although you rationally know you're not doing this [unlike with psychosis, where women believe the thoughts are true] it is very anxiety provoking," and said they are very different from "feeling worries" new parents may have. Perinatal OCD affects two to nine per cent of women, and there is no single reason it can happen. Dr Miele said there could be a "culmination of risk factors" that could lead to it, and the psychiatrist at St Mary's Hospital said being a perfectionist "predisposes you" as does having OCD previously, or having family members who have suffered from OCD. Other factors could be having a sick baby, a complicated pregnancy, or a traumatic birth. While social isolation could also play a part in the intense feelings. However, it can be treated; some cases may resolve themselves, while some may need psychological intervention such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and practical measures such as delegating childcare. In Sarah's case, she had four CBT sessions, and also found that exercising, sleeping better and being honest with her partner all helped her mindset change, as well as putting her feelings into her fictional writing.
Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Sarah Vaughan: ‘I feared I'd push my baby into the path of traffic'
T he stairs of my Edwardian rented house are steep and the drop is sheer. The tiles at the bottom, hard and unforgiving. My ten-month-old son squirms in my arms and, as I sway at the top of them, I see myself dropping him, his tender head smashing on alternate steps as he bounces down. I'm sleep deprived, in chronic pain, and at that moment the descent seems impossible: even holding the banister, I can't force myself to take a step and, as I hesitate, the incline sharpens. But my inquisitive three-year-old is in the kitchen where there's a kettle and knives. Gingerly, I sit on my bottom, and with my baby clutched to me with my right hand, put my left on the banister, then twist so that he's safe against the stairwell while I manoeuvre backwards. As I've taught my eldest to come down the stairs safely, so I inch my way down, shaking as I do so — 10 steps, 11, 12, 13, 14 … Fast forward 16 years and I'm on a film set in Budapest, walking up a set of stairs down which the ethereally beautiful Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, Troy) will imagine dropping a two-week-old baby. The exterior of this house overlooks Richmond Green, and all the other house interiors are in leafy parts of southwest London, but due to the demands of production, including the fact that the stairs are surrounded by scaffolding from which bright lights can be directed, the stairs, the bedrooms and the kitchen are being filmed here. Kruger, with whom I've just been chatting in her trailer, has already filmed a scene in which these stairs appear to tip and sway, and a second in which she unpeels her socks for fear of slipping, then, with the baby clutched to her chest, shuffles down on her bottom. That scene will open episode five of Little Disasters, a six-part TV series that dropped on Paramount+ last week. When I watch the edits, back in my study, months later, I begin to cry. It's perhaps not surprising, given that the show is based on my 2020 psychological thriller of the same name about the darkest reaches of motherhood. Kruger plays Jess, the seemingly perfect mother among a quartet of women who meet at an antenatal class and, despite having little in common but their due dates, remain friends for ten years. But perfection is an illusion, as every parent knows and every psychological thriller reveals, and here it rapidly starts to crumble when Jess turns up at A&E with a baby with a bang to the back of her head and a story that doesn't add up. When police and social services are called in, Jess's evasiveness intensifies along with her shame. Through Liz (Jo Joyner, The Wives, Shakespeare & Hathaway), the harried paediatrician and Jess's one-time friend, we come to understand that Jess's perfectionism and overprotectiveness mask an anxiety disorder triggered by the traumatic birth of her third baby, Betsey: perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (or OCD). In what felt to me like an original set-up for a psychological thriller, Jess is so confounded by her vivid intrusive thoughts of deliberately harming Betsey, she effectively gaslights herself. When I started writing Little Disasters in 2017, perinatal (then maternal) OCD wasn't something I'd ever read about. Yet I knew it existed. Though I was never diagnosed, I experienced it mildly after having my second baby, when a perfect storm of circumstances — a difficult pregnancy in which I was unable to walk, chronic pain, giving up the job that had validated me, a move 50 miles away at 30 weeks pregnant, and my subsequent social isolation — meant I experienced intrusive thoughts about my baby son and tiny daughter being harmed. • Parental guilt: the topic mothers often want to talk to me about My disproportionate sense of risk had been heightened by my previous job as a news reporter on The Guardian, where I'd covered the abduction and murder of Sarah Payne, and subsequent trial of Roy Whiting, and the Soham murders. I knew all about little girls being snatched from country lanes as they raced out of sight — something my three-year-old loved to do on her scooter — because that had happened to five-year-old Sarah; I knew little girls disappeared in sleepy Cambridgeshire towns, because for 11 days I'd been based in Soham covering the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman; and I knew children disappeared from bedrooms while abroad on holiday, something that might happen if we left a window open, because, when my daughter was two and I was four months pregnant with her brother, Madeleine McCann vanished. The cast of Little Disasters OUGHCUT/PARAMOUNT GLOBAL. PHOTOGRAPHER: MATT TOWERS As with OCD in the wider population, perinatal OCD is characterised by recurrent unwelcome thoughts, images and ideas — but here they usually revolve around fear of harm to the baby. Dropping the baby is such a typical intrusive thought that a key psychiatric textbook takes this as its title, but Jess sees herself pushing Betsey's buggy into traffic, or smothering her, or a kettle boiling over, or knives spinning from a knife block and falling on her, or chemicals contaminating a bottle of breastmilk that she's pumped. Fear of germs is common and, as with regular OCD, rituals or compulsive behaviours become a means of managing these perceived dangers. As well as her idiosyncratic approach to going downstairs, Jess hides away the knives, toasters and kettle, spins the rings on her finger, and cleans rigorously — the last initially misinterpreted as a perfectionist desire for an immaculate home. • I had postpartum insomnia — here's how I cured it Such thoughts and behaviours can cause considerable distress, even though the mother may feel 'split' and understand this isn't happening in reality. 'These are very intrusive, ego-dystonic thoughts,' explains the consultant perinatal psychiatrist Dr Maddalena Miele, who points out that these are very different from the fleeting worries new parents habitually experience. 'They can be very graphic and very intense, and although you rationally know you're not doing this [unlike with psychosis, where women believe the thoughts are true] it is very anxiety provoking.' Thankfully we're becoming more aware of the condition. When I researched my thriller, only 1-2 per cent of mothers were understood to experience perinatal OCD (the same prevalence as OCD in the general population), compared with 10 per cent of mothers with postnatal depression. But better-trained health professionals and a wider understanding of maternal mental health has led to far greater recognition. We now know that perinatal OCD affects 2-9 per cent of women antenatally and 2-16 per cent postnatally, according to a raft of recent studies (the different figures are due to the different criteria applied, from clinical criteria to self-reporting). So what prompts it? There is no single cause, but a culmination of risk factors, says Miele, an honorary consultant psychiatrist at St Mary's Hospital, London. Being a perfectionist predisposes you, as does having OCD previously or, given that there's a genetic component, having family members who have suffered from OCD. A precipitating factor would be a sick baby, a complicated pregnancy, or a traumatic birth. A consultant obstetrician once told me that 'birth is the most dangerous day of a baby's life'. One in three first-time births require assisted delivery (ventouse or forceps) in the UK, and 23 per cent of all births here are by emergency caesarean section, and yet expectant mothers aren't necessarily clear about these risks and, in my case, have unrealistic expectations. Jess, who successfully has a home birth with a doula for her first baby, is unprepared for the trauma of her third delivery in which Betsey is stuck and she requires a blood transfusion after a massive post-partum haemorrhage. The sense of an extreme loss of control, and the perceived failure of her body, triggers her perinatal OCD. And then there are the perpetuating factors, such as social isolation. If you're a perfectionist, used to excelling in your career or at home, admitting to struggling when confronted with something that's supposed to be as natural as motherhood seems impossible. Those suffering tend to be highly skilled at appearing to cope. I knew I wasn't depressed, and I gave every impression of being a competent mother, taking my children to baby groups, cooking everything from scratch and striving to be a domestic goddess. I clearly didn't resemble Diane Kruger, whose character experiences perinatal OCD to a far more extreme degree than me, but I washed my hair and wore mascara every day. I was hardly going to tell a health visitor that I'd stood at the side of the road with my buggy, terrified to cross for fear of pushing it into an oncoming car. • Read more parenting advice, interviews, real-life stories and opinion If perfectionism predisposes mothers to perinatal OCD, then it also exacerbates the problem. 'The baby's not an iPad,' says Miele, who practises at the Portland Hospital. 'You have to let things go and accept imperfections; accept uncertainty. Very driven high-achievers want to fix things; to use the rational, cognitive part of the brain, but you need to allow the limbic system to take over. We come to motherhood with preconceived ideas, but we need a more fluid approach. 'People who are perfectionist have overcompensatory mechanisms. When things go wrong, they do more of the same. And although that coping strategy might work in a work environment — and make you desirable as an employee — it's very risky in motherhood. It prevents you taking a rest. Every bit of spare time you'll be using to try to clean the house or being productive. You get run down. Sometimes you need to leave the dirty cups in the sink!' The good news is that perinatal OCD can be treated. While some mild cases may resolve spontaneously, mild and moderate cases should be treated with evidence-based psychological intervention such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and practical measures such as delegating childcare. 'If you're running around with three young children and an absent partner, it's not easy to spend the time required to do CBT,' Miele says. In more severe cases, medication is required, ideally in addition to therapy. The most severe can lead to admission to mother and baby units, but this is rare. In my case, I had four CBT sessions on the NHS after a perceptive GP asked how I was doing. I see my experience as something discrete, that happened postnatally: I have never experienced OCD since. Swimming once a week, sleeping more, beginning to make friends, being honest with my partner, who was obviously aware I was highly anxious, and growing physically stronger all helped, as did writing — this time fiction. As someone used to gaining validation through newspaper bylines, I gained a sense of myself that was distinct from being a mother, again. A final thing that strongly contributed to my recovery was the knowledge that perinatal OCD is a form of vigilance and that, as Liz stresses in Little Disasters, there has never been an instance of a mother with perinatal OCD harming her baby — a line we were keen to include in the scripts. 'There's an evolutionary basis to these thoughts,' Miele says. 'As a mammal you have to be vigilant. Motherhood comes with a natural motivation of safety mechanisms. Having an overprotective thought means that we love the baby and want to protect it but sometimes that mechanism goes awry because of the illness of OCD. 'These thoughts aren't a measure of parental malevolence. They come from a place of love.' Little Disasters streams on Paramount + on May 22. The original thriller is published by Simon & Schuster Page 2
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Amrum' Review: Diane Kruger in Fatih Akin's Sentimental Drama Set During the Last Days of Nazi Germany
In Amrum, Fatih Akin stages a sentimental conversation between himself and his mentor, the German director Hark Bohm. This project, which premiered at Cannes outside the main competition, was born of a collaboration between the two filmmakers: Bohm wrote the screenplay, which is based on memories of his youth in the waning days of World War II, and Akin directed (as well as helped edit the script). Indeed, one of the film's intertitles calls Amrum a 'Hark Bohm film by Fatih Akin.' That's a useful note, because it announces Amrum as atypical of the Turkish-German filmmaker's usual offerings. It doesn't have the thriller textures of In the Fade or the grittiness of Head-On. With its focus on the experiences of a young boy, Amrum most closely aligns with Akin's 2016 coming-of-age drama Goodbye Berlin. More from The Hollywood Reporter Cannes Gives Warm Welcome to Dardennes and 'Young Mother's Home' 'Resurrection' Review: Director Bi Gan's Beguiling, Beautifully Realized Journey Through the Life, Death and Possible Rebirth of Cinema 'Woman and Child' Review: An Unwieldy Iranian Melodrama Sustained by Great Performances and a Gifted Young Director But even that film, with its surreal elements, had a touch more edge. Amrum lives in the category of movies that confront the cruelty of Nazism through the perspective of children. It's less cloying than The Boy in the Striped Pajamas but more earnest than JoJo Rabbit. The film stars returning Akin collaborator Diane Kruger as an anti-fascist farmer on the titular island off the German coast, and features a strong turn from Jasper Ole Billerbeck as protagonist Nanning. We meet Nanning in the summer of 1945, working alongside his friend Hermann (Klan Koppke) on a farm run by Tessa (Kruger). As they till the land, a horse and buggy filled with people pulls up and a brief conversation between Tessa and the driver reveals that those in the wagon are Russian-born German refugees who have been sent from Berlin. Tessa, fed up with the war and keenly aware of diminishing resources within this tight-knit community, denigrates the Nazi cause and hopes for an end to it all. Ignorant to the implication of Tessa's statement, Nanning alludes to it later at dinner with his mother Hille (Laura Tonke) and his aunt Ena (Lisa Hagmeister). He asks if his father will be home soon because the war is almost over. Hille, a fierce Nazi loyalist, is appalled by the question and the next day she reports Tessa to the Nazi authorities. Nanning loses his job and is labeled a rat by his peers. Akin uses this early moment to establish the tension between Amrum's long-time, working-class residents and the Nazis transplanted there because of the war. Nanning, who is a member of the Hitler Youth corp and whose father plays a critical role within the Nazi party, doesn't question how he's seen by others until his mother reports Tessa to the authorities. But still, he remains loyal to her. The drama in Amrum kicks off when Hille, pregnant with her fourth child, becomes depressed by Hitler's diminishing influence. At her lowest point, she off-handedly wishes for white bread, butter and honey, and Nanning, a child who wants his mother to feel better, takes it as a mandate. He sets off on a series of quests to find these rare goods. His adventures take him across the island, where he interacts with an assortment of people with different political views. He also comes to understand more about his family's personal history and the depth of his mother and father's cruelty. Billerbeck's performance is Amrum's emotional engine. The actor channels Nanning's initial naïveté through sorrowful eyes that grow more steely as his adventures harden him to harsh realities. He captures the adolescent desire to fit in and balances that well with the grief that comes from realizing your parents are not who you thought they were. Kruger's role in Amrum is minor but affecting. She plays Tessa, a potato farmer, as a kind of counterpart to Hille. Unlike Nanning's mother, Tessa doesn't blindly support the Nazis and doesn't see Hitler as the path to Germany's salvation. There's a groundedness to her character, who embodies a rare kind of moral clarity. Amrum is hardly a piece of fascist apologia nor does it try to build a sympathetic portrait of Nazis. Akin uses a child's perspective to wrestle with a nation's conception of itself in the waning days of brutality. Still, one does wonder if the message about the Third Reich's rotten core gets lost in the classic, edenic cinematography (by Karl Walter Lindenlaub). Akin leans into a gorgeous visual language that evokes nostalgia. He trades frenetic jump cuts and hectic camera angles that define films like Head-On for meditative wide shots that bask in the scale and beauty of the island. Some of the most compelling scenes in Amrum focus on the economy of conflict and how war turns basic commodities — eggs, flour and even sugar — into luxury goods. As Nanning procures these items for his mother, evidence of the Nazis' weakened authority mounts. His mother's depression worsens — especially at the news of Hitler's death — and the young boy feels intensifying pressure to help alleviate it. But the more he learns about his parents and the island, the more he must contend with his own sense of morality. What does it mean to lose faith in one's role models and form an identity outside their ideological purview? It's a conventional narrative drama, but Amrum approaches this question with commendable tenderness. 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Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Actress Diane Kruger reveals the 'ultimate gift' that changed her life
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?
CBC
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
The best-dressed celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival 2025
It's reliably one of the biggest events for style (and film!) each year, and the 2025 Cannes Film Festival once again delivered standout red carpet looks — from floor-sweeping gowns to more conceptual, fashion-forward ensembles. With appearances from A-listers like Emma Stone and Jodie Foster, plus a bevy of supermodels — including Heidi Klum, Karolína Kurková and Canadian Coco Rocha — this year's red carpet was one for the books. Rihanna and her husband, rapper A$AP Rocky, even shared a sweet moment together under an "umbrella, -ella, -ella" at the premiere of Highest 2 Lowest. Here are 12 of the year's top Cannes Film Festival looks. Dakota Johnson The American actor wore Gucci multiple times at Cannes, including to the premiere of Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest. Stylist Kate Young paired her strapless, sequin-embroidered fringe gown with a beautiful pair of shoulder-grazing drop earrings by Boucheron. Diane Kruger Diane Kruger had multiple winning looks at Cannes this year, but a highlight was this Dolce & Gabbana ensemble featuring a sheer scarf and full-length gloves. Her jewelry — including a back necklace — is by FRED Paris. Alton Mason Mason, an actor and model, made the slightly-too-ubiquitous-at-Cannes black tuxedo work for him on the Highest 2 Lowest red carpet. The roomier fit of his Balmain tux complemented the unbuttoned dress shirt, while a star-shaped brooch by Ole Lynggaard Copenhagen added a perfectly on-trend touch. Paul Mescal Mescal, who stars in The History Of Sound, attended the premiere of the movie in an all-black Gucci look paired with Cartier jewelry. Once again, it's the perfectly relaxed fit of the monochrome suiting that elevates it from standard to stylish. Isabelle Huppert French actor Isabelle Huppert looked effortlessly cool at the Highest 2 Lowest premiere in a denim Balenciaga ensemble, styled with a jewelry piece by Elsa Jin Studio — worn as a brooch. Emma Stone The Eddington star was the definition of elegance in a white gown with a sculptural statement collar and sparkly earrings, both by Louis Vuitton. Rawdah Mohamed Model Rawdah Mohamed — who also made our Cannes best-dressed list last year — wore two gorgeous looks at the festival, including this pale pink drop-waist gown custom made for her by Malaysian fashion label Rizman Ruzaini, and a sculptural, cream-coloured ensemble by Cheney Chan. Barbara Palvin Pink satin can sometimes read as overly saccharine on the red carpet, but this off-the-shoulder Balenciaga gown beautifully ushers Palvin into what she calls her " princess era." Mitchell Akat Maruko Raan Model Mitchell Akat Maruko Raan might have won the Cannes red carpet in this striking cheetah-print look by designer Harvey Cenit. Irina Shayk For the Dossier 137 premiere, the model wore a stunning custom Elie Saab gown paired with fine jewelry by Marli New York. Her wet-look hair and bold red lips complemented the drama of the feathered gown well. Heidi Klum At the festival's opening ceremony, model Heidi Klum stole the show in a strapless pink Elie Saab gown adorned with delicate organza petals. Jodie Foster
