Jennifer Lawrence is getting candid about the challenges of postpartum and motherhood while promoting her new film Die My Love at the Cannes Film Festival.
During a press conference for the upcoming thriller, which follows a new mother’s descent into madness, the Oscar winner reflected on how the role hit close to home.
“As a mother, it was really hard to separate what I would do as opposed to what she would do. And it was just heartbreaking,” she said, according to Variety. “I had just had my firstborn, and there’s not really anything like postpartum. It’s extremely isolating, which is so interesting.”
Lawrence drew parallels between her own experience and that of the film’s main character.
“When [director] Lynne [Ramsay] moves this couple into Montana, she doesn’t have a community,” she continued. “She doesn’t have her people. But the truth is, extreme anxiety and extreme depression is isolating, no matter where you are. You feel like an alien.”
Postpartum depression affects as many as one in eight women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause symptoms such as withdrawal from loved ones, excessive crying, anxiety, anger, self-doubt and intrusive thoughts. Unlike the common “baby blues,” postpartum depression can last for weeks or months and is more intense.
Die My Love, which also stars Robert Pattinson as Lawrence’s overwhelmed husband, had its world premiere at Cannes. Based on Ariana Harwicz‘s 2017 novel of the same name, the film centers on a new mother’s spiral into psychosis following postpartum depression, which strains her mental health and marriage.
Lawrence, who shares two children with husband Cooke Maroney, revealed she was five months pregnant with her second child while filming.
ABC News has reached out to Lawrence’s team for additional comment.
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