Jennifer Lawrence Reveals She's Welcomed a Son, Talks Life with Baby Cy
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It seems like it has been years since we last heard from Jennifer Lawrence, and it has, but ahead of the premiere of her film Causeway, the actress is finally telling us all about her new life as part of a sweet family of three.
In a new interview, the Hunger Games star spoke of her marriage, revealed the gender of her first child, and admitted her biggest fears, now that she's a mother.
For starters, she confirmed that she is the proud mom to a son, named Cy, whom she welcomed in February, with art gallerist husband Cooke Maroney. They named their baby boy after one of Maroney’s favorite artists, the postwar American painter Cy Twombly.
"It's so scary to talk about motherhood. Only because it's so different for everybody. If I say, 'It was amazing from the start,' some people will think, 'It wasn't amazing for me at first,' and feel bad," she said. "Fortunately I have so many girlfriends who were honest. Who were like, 'It's scary. You might not connect right away. You might not fall in love right away.' So I felt so prepared to be forgiving."
She recalled that before she gave birth, she was talking a walk with a close friend and joked that she didn't know if she'd love her baby more that she loved her cat. "'Maybe I’ll love him as much as my cat?'" she remembered saying.
Of course, as soon as she saw Cy, her entire world changed.
"The morning after I gave birth, I felt like my whole life had started over. Like, 'Now is day one of my life. I just stared.' I was just so in love," Lawrence said. "I also fell in love with all babies everywhere. Newborns are just so amazing. They’re these pink, swollen, fragile little survivors. Now I love all babies. Now I hear a baby crying in a restaurant and I’m like, 'Awwww, preciousssss.'"
The actress also recalled the moment she gave birth, saying that she had a list of inspirational quotes she wanted her husband to say to her, but when the time came, it all went out the window.
"And then obviously once you get there and you’re having contractions, that’s just, like, not the vibe," Lawrence said. "He was like, 'Do you want me to say any of this stuff? Doesn’t seem like you want me to.'" But there was one affirmation that helped Lawrence be strong as she sat on the ground, leaning on an exercise ball and preparing to give birth, 'Don’t be a pussy. It’s not that bad. Don’t be a pussy. It’s not that bad.'"
This year, Lawrence is getting ready to film Sue (working title), a biopic about the Hollywood agent Sue Mengers directed by Paolo Sorrentino, and comedy No Hard Feelings, directed by Gene Stupnitsky. (Stupnitsky introduced Lawrence to Maroney when she had a question about art. She recalled, "I was like, 'Do you know how gorgeous you are?' I didn’t say that, but I was like, 'Is this a joke? Is this a prank?'") Ahead of the projects, the new mom has been contemplating her career, and how it mirrors her feelings about her own childhood.
"Art more often than not is about one’s mother. I hesitate to say that because I would hate for somebody to go back and watch my movies, or watch this movie in particular, and think that that is the way that I’m painting my mother. My mother is a wonderful person. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still things from my childhood that I’m working out," she said.
She added, "So many of my films in the past have been about my mother, my childhood. I wonder what will happen now that I’ll be witnessing somebody else’s childhood. And I wonder what he’s going to be talking about with his therapist: 'She wouldn’t put me down. She kisses me on the mouth. She asked me not to go to college.'"
And so much more of how she sees the world has changed since welcoming Cy—her fears, for example.
"My heart has stretched to a capacity that I didn’t know about. I include my husband in that. And then they’re both just, like, out there—walking around, crossing streets," Lawrence said. "He’s gonna drive one day. He’s gonna be a stupid teenager and be behind the wheel of a car. And I’m just gonna be like, 'Good night!' You know? Like, who sleeps?"
Lawrence revealed in the interview that she has had two miscarriages (the first pregnancy was in her early 20s and she intended to get an abortion before she miscarried, and the second was while she was filming Don’t Look Up and her and Maroney were trying to start a family) and her worries about her son's future have only escalated since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending women's constitutional right to an abortion. The same goes for the recent political debate over gun laws in the country, amid the rise in school shootings.
"I’m raising a little boy who is going to go to school one day. Guns are the number-one cause of death for children in the United States. And people are still voting for politicians who receive money from the NRA. It blows my mind. I mean if Sandy Hook didn’t change anything? We as a nation just went, 'Okay!' We are allowing our children to lay down their lives for our right to a second amendment that was written over 200 years ago," Lawrence said.
But, in the end, the show must go on. As Lawrence jumps back to the big screen, she said she will never stop basking in the ultimate joy that is her new family life. Cy, she said, started smiling a couple of months ago and is now "on the precipice of laughing"—though avocado apparently makes him cry. The actress joked that her baby boy is her little voodoo doll, because everything that hurts him hurts her. "I mean the euphoria of Cy is just—Jesus, it’s impossible," she said. "I always tell him, 'I love you so much it’s impossible.'"
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