Rachel McAdams Says Being a Mom Made Her Feel ‘Very Different’ About Her Latest Role
Being a mom changes you, there is no doubt about it. Celebrities feel it too, and Rachel McAdams is the latest to weigh in on how motherhood has affected her approach to acting.
The Mean Girls alum plays Margaret’s mom Barbara Simon in the Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret new movie based on the 1970 book by Judy Blume. It’s weird enough that we are moms now when we grew up relating to Margaret, and for McAdams, getting into this role has been “very different” now that she is a mom of two.
“Coming to this as a mom was very different for me,” McAdams told Entertainment Tonight yesterday. She said she empathizes more with the younger characters. “To see through those eyes, you just remind yourself of what it was to be that age, and how hard it was,” she continued.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about that stuff.’ But of course, you’re worrying about that stuff,” she said. “That’s so sort of patronizing to say, ‘It’ll be fine.’ So, you gotta get back in your 12-year-old skin and realize how much everything mattered.”
The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness actress continued, “So trying to do that when playing Barb, but at the same time, trying to be wise for this little girl, and be the big person and put my big girl pants on. And be a good role model too. It was interesting to have read the book as a mother and approach it from there.”
The actress became a mom in 2018 with screenwriter Jamie Linden. She told The Sunday Times U.K. about her son, “I want to keep his life private, even if mine isn’t.” Although she did give a few details about motherhood: “I’m having more fun being a mom than I’ve ever had. Everything about it is interesting and exciting and inspiring to me. Even the tough days — there’s something delightful about them,” she told the outlet.
She was reportedly pregnant with baby number 2 in 2020, although she kept the details about that baby’s birth very quiet and rarely speaks about her kids in interviews.
McAdams did have some words of wisdom for young girls — and her younger self. “It’s gonna get easier. It gets really fun the older you get. I think it gets easier. I don’t know that I’d want to go back,” she told ET about growing up.
She continued, “If I could go back with the wisdom, all the wisdom I have now, sure. But if just had to go right back? No way. No thank you.”
Same, girl! She may not have been a mom for long, but McAdams already seems wise beyond her years.
These celebrity moms opened up to SheKnows about the best ways motherhood has changed them.