Rose Byrne admits to motherhood ‘grief’

Rose Byrne has felt “grief” over becoming a mother “because you lose part of yourself”.

Rose Byrne has felt “grief” over becoming a mother.

The 46-year-old actress has sons Rocco, 10, and Rafael, eight, with partner Bobby Cannavale but admitted that she has felt like she lost a part of herself to motherhood.

She told The Times: “Having a baby is like going to the moon, and nobody ever tells you that. You don’t want to feel like you don’t love your child, but there is a grief around becoming a mother, because you lose part of yourself that you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever get back. It’s OK to grieve that – in fact, we should. Because it’s a before and an after.”

Rose’s comments came as she was discussing her latest film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, the psychological comedy-drama, which tells the story of psychotherapist Linda who is stretched to her limits while caring for her daughter, who is suffering from a feeding disorder.

She said: “It is a challenging look at motherhood. Because it is relentless, because it is unending, [your children] lose their shape a little bit. And you have to remind yourself, wow, this is a tiny little person. That’s totally an experience I’ve had as a parent and there is shame you feel around that.

“I had a really hard time breastfeeding and found it very challenging, even more challenging than delivery … And I said to a good girlfriend… ‘Mate, why didn’t you tell me how hard it was?’ She was like, ‘I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t want to scare you.’”