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Zoe Saldana: Studios “Had a Panic” When They Learned I Was Pregnant

Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana said this week that movie studios panicked when they found out she was pregnant: "There was even a conversation of me being written off."

Confessions of a Hollywood mom. Mom of two Zoe Saldana said in a new interview that Hollywood studios should be paying for childcare for actresses with kids. The Infinitely Polar Bear actress opened up to USA Today and Us Weekly about juggling her career now that she's a mom to her baby twin boys Cy and Bowie.

Related: PHOTOS: 2015's babies of the year!

"They’re sleep-training. You have no idea," Saldana, 36, told Us exclusively of her boys at the L.A. Film Festival premiere of her new movie. "It's good to actually get out of the house for a little bit, but we stayed there. I'm in absolute anguish. Because we've done every gentle method, and we’ve finally come to the conclusion that every parent has been telling us… you have to let them cry a little bit. So it’s just our insides are absolutely broken, but that's what we have to do. Marco’s mom kind of kicked us out of the house. She was like, 'Just leave me with these kids, go have a good time, have some popcorn.'"

In a separate interview with USA TODAY, The Guardians of the Galaxy star called out movie studios for being one-sided in terms of benefits for male actors. Saldana, who advocates gender equality, argued that studios will "spend more money sometimes perking up male superstars," who see perks like private jets, assistants, bodyguards, or a "really phat penthouse or them staying in a yachts."

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"But then a woman comes in going, 'Okay, I have a child. You're taking me away from my home. You're taking my children away from their home. And you're going to make me work a lot more hours than I usually would if I was home,'" she said of the reality for many actresses. "'Therefore, I would have to pay for this nanny for more hours — so I kind of need that.’ And they go, 'Nope, we don't pay for nannies.'"

Saldana was honest about going back to work after giving birth to her sons last December. "The battle will always be in trying to balance it out," she told the paper. "That's the most exhausting thing, the balance of it all. But it helps when you're doing it with your companion. If I know Marco is trying to balance it as well, then I feel like I'm not alone."

Related: PHOTOS: Celebs who have a twin!

She encountered some struggle during her pregnancy. "Let me tell you something, it will never be the right time for anybody in your life that you get pregnant," she said, revealing that some of her employers were not pleased. "The productions I was slated to work on sort of had a panic. I heard through the grapevine there was even a conversation of me being written off of one of the projects. I was like, 'Oh, my God, are you kidding me? It's this bad? Right when I just feel super-duper happy, is that inconvenient for you? That me, as a woman in my thirties, I finally am in love and I am finally starting my life? And it's [screwing] your schedule up? Really?'"

The Star Trek actress recently made headlines after revealing in a new interview that her husband, artist Marco Perego, had taken her name after they got married. Saldana said she hopes her children will someday think progressively, too, while sharing her key takeaway from her latest role as a bipolar mom in Infinitely Polar Bear.

Related: PHOTOS: Celeb pregnancy confessions

"Education is very important to instill to your kids," Saldana told Us Weekly. "I don't know who was it that told us when we were pregnant, and I might not even be saying right, but in order for your child to not put himself second, you have put yourself first. It was something like that."

She explained, "Your children will learn how to place themselves under any relationship, whether business, or personal or something, according to what they see of you. I think it's very important not only are you there and present and consistent with your children, but your children also see you fight for your dreams. I think it's important. I feel like that's a very strong lesson that you teach your children."

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