“I just felt that in my bones”
Emily Blunt has revealed that she is taking a year-long break from acting to spend more time with her family.
The Mary Poppins Returns star, who is married and shares two daughters with fellow actor John Krasinski, made the comments during an appearance on the Table for Two podcast.
Asked by host Bruce Bozzi how she manages to juggles her career with being a mother, Blunt said: “Not always well, you know. It’s one of those things when people are like, ‘How do you balance it?’ I never feel like I’m doing it right, you know. But this year I’m not working.”
Since the birth of her daughters in 2014 and 2016, Blunt has worked on a number of major projects, including A Quiet Place, A Quiet Place Part II, Mary Poppins Returns, and the 2022 TV mini-series The English.
She also has a number of upcoming projects, including Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which will be released on July 21.
“I worked quite a bit last year and my oldest baby is nine – like we’re in the last year of single digits – and I just feel there’s cornerstones to their day that is so important when they’re little,” Blunt continued.
“And it’s, ‘Will you wake me up?’, ‘Will you take me to school?’, ‘Will you pick me up?’, ‘Will you put me to bed?’ And I just need to be there for all of them. For a good stretch. And I just felt that in my bones,” she added.
The actor went on to share that she had “a beautiful time” on her projects last year, but admitted: “Some were more intense than others. Some were harder than others. Some were more time-consuming than others, and the ones that are time-consuming I think, for me, are becoming few and further between because of just the emotional cost on me, on the kids, on balance.”
She went on to describe the “guilt” that her and other mothers are prone to feeling “for, god-forbid, wanting something outside of being a mother,” adding: “I want my kids to grow up and find something they adore doing.”
Blunt will next be seen in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, where she plays J. Robert Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty. Cillian Murphy plays the lead role, with the supporting cast including Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh and Josh Hartnett.
Beyond Oppenheimer, Blunt stars in the film Pain Hustlers from director David Yates, as well as the Ryan Gosling-led The Fall Guy, which is scheduled for next year.
