Vera Farmiga: Why I Returned to Work Two Weeks Postpartum

Ron Asadorian/Splash News Online

When she was cast in Up In The Air, Vera Farmiga was not yet a mom-to-be. In a new interview with USA Today, the actress reveals that her announcement of a baby-on-the-way with her husband, Deadsy’s Renn Hawkey, was not exactly greeted with enthusiasm by some in the film industry.

After meeting with executives throughout her pregnancy with son Fynn, now 13 months, Vera says she was left with the distinct impression that “the studio was panicking.”

“I felt that, and it destroyed me. I wanted to walk away from this career. I felt incredibly insecure.”

Determined to prove her naysayers wrong, Vera, 36, arrived on set just two weeks postpartum. Her performance in the film was so impressive, it garnered an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress — but Vera says the critical acclaim is bittersweet.

“I could never reclaim these first precious moments of maternity. [But] I needed to pay my mortgage. It wasn’t an option. I had to do the role.”

Source: USA Today

Comments

This makes me sad.

- Chris on March 1st, 2010

Sometimes 6 weeks maternity leave is a luxury. I admire her honesty.

- Kelsey on March 1st, 2010

I returned too early too. We can’t all be SAHMs, even if our heart’s in that place.

- Anon on March 1st, 2010

I guess she’s the main bread winner….must suck to have to leave your child at two weeks old,and spend 12-14 hour days on set just to pay your morgage.What does her husband do.

- LOL on March 1st, 2010

That’s sad. I have no idea what kind of money she has and I see what she claims, but it seems unlikely to me that she needed to make that film in orded to pay her mortgage. I don’t want to judge, and I really like her, but I just think that it’s too bad that she missed out on that time with her son because she felt so pressured.

- emilyc on March 1st, 2010

She does mostly indie flicks and that could be very true – depending on how she’s paid (on scale, perhaps), this could be true. I hope no women here judge her…but…I see it starting. As a woman, I support whatever she thinks is best.

- Erin on March 2nd, 2010

This is a very sad situation to be in. It seems like there is a lot of pressure in hollywood for moms to return to work very early, as they fear they will be replaced by another actress. Hopefully the financial rewards from this role and award nominations will allow her more time with her son.

- Elle on March 2nd, 2010

i’ve just started my 18mth old daughter in daycare (2 days a week) and it is KILLING ME. Intellectually, i can kind of make peace with the separation but emotionally?!?!? i’m a freakin’ mess. I think our brains are wired to make leaving our babies/toddlers very very difficult and so all i can say is… 2 weeks post-partum?… that is brutal and my heart goes out to her.

- katie on March 2nd, 2010

I am happy to see that people are starting to realize that celebrities are really just people, just higher paid and more popular.I am glad Vera is shedding some light on the ugly sides of the business. Most of us like me, dont realize how lucky we have it to lounge around and spend an entire paid year with our babies. And I work at subway the sandwich place, muchless somewhere grand. And unlike most of us, these people dont have the luxury of having employment that they can work at for years, moving upwards,because after the looks are gone..what are they left with..a mortgage of an overpriced house, expensive clothes and things that are rentals or things that are just given when you are popular…think about that the next time you see a celeb on one of those low reality shows or a song that was amazing back in the day being used to sell something dumb.

- Rach on March 2nd, 2010

Wow…that must have been so hard…I can’t even imagine the separation anxiety she must have gone through with her little one being so young. Makes me even more thankful that I live in a country that gives us up to 12 months paid maternity (or paternity) leave!
As for her having to work to pay the mortgage–I’d never heard of Vera before “Up In The Air,” and her CV doesn’t exactly scream A-list actress either, so I don’t think that it’s unlikely that she has to work fairly steadily if she has a home/family to help support.

- Tara on March 2nd, 2010

I can understand what she’s saying, I’m sure she worked for years to find the success she’s getting. Hollywood is not a place you can walk away from and come back a year later with the same jobs, somebody will take your place immediately. She said she had to pay her mortgage, the way she felt tore her up inside and she wanted to walk away, and she realized she can’t get those moments back, why would we not believe her? I applaud her for being open and honest about her decision, I’m sure it wasn’t easy but she did what she had to do and many of us would too.

- Jessicad on March 2nd, 2010

i don’t think we should criticise her. for all we know her husband might have stayed at home because she makes more money. i hate to see such a common double standard here that it is perfectly fine, expected even, that dads go back to work as soon as their baby is born, even if they have a lot of money, but mothers are judged for it. if her husband stayed at home instead surely it’s lovely that he gets to be a stay at home dad, and even if he didn’t, why are we judging her?

- JM on March 2nd, 2010

I returned to work 3 weeks after my baby was born. I totally get where she is coming from; bills have to be paid. My consolation was that my husband, a student, has been able to stay home with our baby so we haven’t had to pay for daycare.

- Olivia on March 2nd, 2010

Her husband is in a band called Deadsy with Cher’s son Elijiah Blue. I think it is a pretty indy punk band who really just does local shows. Renn used to be engaged to Courtney Wagner (Natalie Wood’s daughter), I was shocked to know he married Vera!!!

I think taking this movie was a choice many of us would have taken. It isn’t as simple as I had to get paid, it was a HUGE movie for her career. A movie with George Clooney? the Reitman named attached? It wasn’t just about a paycheck for this film, it meant she is an acadamy award nominated actress now, this can pretty much seal her financial future if she is smart with money. This will open up so many doors. Before this movie, 90% of people never even heard of her, myself included. Even less people know her husband

- MaggieMoo on March 2nd, 2010

Obviously, she had no choice but to take the part. You don’t walk away from such an opportunity when you’re 35 years old. She’s a smart woman who will provide a nice life for her child. Soon she’ll have the luxury to spend more time with him, because she’ll be rich.

I saw Up in the Air and she appears nude in a couple of scenes. To have that banging body so soon after childbirth, wow, just wow.

And good for the makers of the movie for not dropping her once they found out she was pregnant. Gives me hope that the world is slowly becoming more friendly to motherhood.

All of that said, I can’t thank Quebec enough for providing me with a full year of maternity leave so I can have my child and my career too!

- Mira on March 2nd, 2010

That sucks…but that is the beast we call Hollywood.
I would most certainly not judge her because I know being pregnant right now I have the luxury of a paid year off plus on month paid vacation. So in a sense I get 13 months off paid to be with my child when he or she is born in June.

I really feel for those women who have to go back to work so early after giving birth. And unfortunately she is not on the same salary scale as say Julia Roberts where she can command 20 million dollars for a movie, take some time off have some kids and still be able to live in the lap of luxury.

She is a working actress and I really enjoy what I have seen of her work

- Dee on March 2nd, 2010

emilyc-That is not the point. She said that she needed to pay her mortgage. Why do we have to question her motives? Even if she wanted to go back to work less to pay her mortgage and more for the enjoyment does that make her a bad mom? We as women need to support each other instead of questioning their motives and trying to bring each other down. Vera! Good-Luck at the Academy Awards!

- I♥CBB on March 2nd, 2010

She has done indie films. She is not one of those actresses who make 1 million per film, or a TV actress who pulls in 60k per episode for 24 episode season. While I doubt her family would be homeless or eating Kraft dinner if she didn’t make the film, there are many actors/actresses who need to work to maintain an middle/upper middle class life. When you see the premieres it’s the production company pays for it, the dresses are loaned etc. For one night they live a glamorous life, and then go back to their regular life where they live at Holiday Inn while shooting and live in a regular home that probably an upper middle class family in our life would have.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she made 500k for this film (probably 200k after taxes, agent fees etc). I do think that her fee (maybe 2 mill for leading role, 1 million for supporting role) has dramatically increased since this film got released.

I am so happy I live in Canada. In Canada you can take up to 1 year maternity leave and get benefits for the majority of that time.

- Althea on March 3rd, 2010

It’s a sad sitch that she had to do this, but it’s the reality for alot of women. With my first, I could take no maternity leave because I only worked p/t and needed to work to pay bills. With my younger girls, I’ve been lucky to have a year to be with them. In a perfect world, everyone could be home the first year.

- Mary-Helen on March 3rd, 2010

I am expecting my first child in September and will get six weeks paid leave. After that I’ll have to put my child in daycare full time and only see it in the evenings. If I could trade that six weeks for the months upon months that Vera is getting off now, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Granted she missed the first months of her baby’s life but she’ll get to be there for so much more. Ultimately, I think she made the right decision. The attention and acclaim she’s gotten from Up in the Air is going to give her enough clout to pick her own roles and take time off if she chooses.

- Dee on March 3rd, 2010

She didn’t say she was out of town away from her son so I wouldn’t go feeling too sorry for her just yet. I went back at 5 weeks because my job reniged on their offer 1 week before I went out whiich had me not needing care between mine and m y husbands schedules. So two of those weeks we were in the hospital for complications, 1 I was finding childcare, one interviewing strangers and husband was there the other two-but I had nights and mronings with her after work.

- April on March 3rd, 2010

April, so people aren’t allowed to feel sorry for her? That doesn’t make sense at all. Anyway, bravo to her for talking about it. It’s always irritating to read the comments around here at times that put down working mothers and make it sounds like they aren’t real mothers. Why do we need those debates when it’s 2010, not the 1950′s. Not every woman wants to be a stay at home mom and that should always be a good thing.

- Lee on March 3rd, 2010

I really wasn’t trying to put her down or anything. I just thought that it sounded like she was pressured into making the movie so soon after her son’s birth. I still think that it sounds like her reasoning was less about paying her mortgage and was more about keeping herself marketable in her business. I think that’s a horrible part of her job as an actress, and no woman or man should have to feel like they HAVE to do a movie and sacrafice thier family life in order to keep thier job. She herself said that her success is bittersweet, so, I feel badly for her and her son. All that being said, I hope she wins! Her family is really sweet and I truly enjoy he work!

- emilyc on March 5th, 2010