Jennifer Lawrence Opens Up About 'Guilty' Experience With Motherhood

Like everyone else, Jennifer Lawrence has her ups and downs with motherhood, and she is willing to share!

She sat to interview the legendary actress Viola Davis and the stars discussed their lives and what they have been up to recently, including motherhood and movie roles. As for the younger actress, she also revealed some details of her personal life, including carrying some guilt as a mother. 

The "Passenger" actress sat across in awe of the "Fences" star for one of the episodes of Variety's "Actor on Actor" series, bringing two industry colleagues together to talk about how far they have come and their craft. 

Being significant trailblazers in their own right does not remove the challenges they might face in the industry. Lawrence, who is usually never shy, became a fan girl instantly and gushed, "This is truly the biggest honor of my life. Your performance in 'Fences' changed my life." 

During the segment, they talked about how her role in the movie "Causeway," in which she produced and starred as a military veteran who comes home suffering from a traumatic brain injury, came at the right time. 

The 32-year-old said, "I made [Causeway] right before I got married, and then we had the pandemic. Two years later, I'm pregnant; we go back and make the rest of it." She alluded that the scariest thing for her in the world was to think of making a family, as she did not believe that she could do so without messing it up. 

The "Winter's Bone" actress compared her fear of failure to her role as "Lynsey" in the movie, who also battled with the same feeling while adding that it was so interesting to make a movie where the character and herself mirrored each other. The award-winning actress who gave birth to her son, Cy early 2022, disclosed that tackling motherhood had not been without issues, saying:

"Every day of being a mom, I feel awful. I feel guilty."

She noted that she would often question herself while playing with him, asking, "Is this what he wants to be doing? Should we be outside? We're outside. What if he's cold? What if he's going to get sick? Should we be inside? Is this enough? Is this developing your brain enough?"

The 57-year-old veteran actress attempted to put her fears of being the perfect mother by sharing a story of how she accidentally locked her daughter in the car. Lawrence laughingly mentioned her own story about how she drove without buckling her son in the backseat, adding, "OK, great! Good to know that we all almost killed our kids."

That would not be the first time that the "Silver Linings Playbook" star would speak up about being scared of motherhood, as The Blast shared in September that she talked about her worries in another interview with Vogue.

Lawrence revealed the sex and name of her precious bundle of joy, who she shares with her husband, Cooke Maroney. The "Joy" star explained that being told by friends that she might not "fall in love right away" with her baby after giving birth terrified her.

Fortunately, she said the opposite was the case for her, as she described his birth day as the "day one of my life." The "Mother!" star admitted that she put off talking about how head over heels in love with her baby and being a mother she was, adding,

"If I say, It was amazing from the start, some people will think, It wasn't amazing for me at first, and feel bad."

The "American Hustle" actress noted that she felt prepared to forgive herself even if it turned out she did not love her tiny tot because she had many female friends who were open and honest with her concerning expectations. One thought that occurred to her was that she did not think she would care for any other being more than her cat, although this did not turn out to be the case. 

Lawrence shocked fans when she shared why she has always made her stance on abortion and women's rights very clear. The Blast reported that she disclosed that she had almost gotten an abortion in her 20s but unexpectedly miscarried the pregnancy. 

Speaking to Vogue, the "Dark Phoenix" star stated that at the time, she was very sure of her decision, adding that many years later, while filming "Don't Look Up," she got pregnant again and suffered another miscarriage.

She also mentioned that she had to undergo a surgical operation called dilation and curettage (D&C) to clear all the tissues from her uterus completely.