Alicia Vikander felt like an “imposter” when portraying childbirth onscreen before becoming a parent herself. The actress also revealed she welcomed a second child earlier this year.
“I gave birth four times on screen before I did it myself,” Vikander told Elle. The actress, married to Michael Fassbender, welcomed her first child in 2021. “Your job is to pretend as an actor, but every time I had to give birth, I said to every woman on set, ‘I’m sorry.’ I felt like such an imposter.”
On pregnancy and childbirth, Vikander continued, “All women have such different experiences, and going through it a second time was definitely harder for me. But I think training made it easier. Going through those nine months is like a marathon, so it does help if you’re strong going into it. It’s so physically demanding, and I have so much admiration for any woman who has done it.”
Elsewhere in the piece, which featured Vikander in conversation with Taylor Russell. Both actresses co-star in the upcoming thriller Hope, also spoke about Vikander’s performance as Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII, in Firebrand, which premiered at Cannes last year and opened in theaters last month.
“I had this moment where I was embarrassed when I first read the script,” Vikander shared. “I didn’t know anything about this woman. She was the first woman to ever be published in British history. How come I had never heard of her? I asked around my British friends and nobody knew that fact either. That’s quite a big moment in history for women! And so, I went back and read her books, which was so interesting because it was an incredible way of getting personal contact with someone who lived 500 years ago. To have Henry as her husband who, on a whim, just kills anyone he wants, including his wives, is such an emotional trauma. You realize how tough times have been, and the reality of women’s experiences in that.”