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Thandie Newton Opens Up About Her Home Births: ‘I Needed to Feel Uninhibited’  (Exclusive)

Thandie Newton
Thandie Newton attends the "Liyana" New York Premiere at IFC Center on October 9, 2018 in New York City. Manny Carabel/Getty Images

Thandie Newton gave birth to her third child on a bathroom floor in 2014. It wasn’t because she didn’t have enough time to get to the hospital. The Emmy-winning actress delivered all three of her kids in the comfort of her own home. 

Related: These Celebrities All Chose to Have Home Births

“I was more scared of going to the hospital because it was a place I associated with illness,” Newton, 45, told Us Weekly at a screening of Liyana in New York City on Tuesday, October 9. “I didn’t feel ill when I was pregnant and I knew that it was going to be the most extraordinary feat of courage and I needed to feel uninhibited. I didn’t feel I would get there if I was in an environment that didn’t feel safe to me.” 

The Westworld star shares Ripley, 17, Nico, 13, and Booker, 4, with British director Ol Parker

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Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and he bends you with his might That his arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, So he loves also the bow that is stable. Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet

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Related: Celeb Moms Share Breast-Feeding Pictures

“It’s about knowing the facts,” Newton explained, noting that she was near a medical facility if something went wrong. “If the baby’s heartbeat started to slow, then we would have got ourselves in the car,” the Rogue alum Us. “It didn’t and I was able to have my babies at home.”

Newton and the Mama Mia! Here We Go Again director tied the knot in 1998. The couple met on the set of the 1996 BBC drama In Your Dreams — she starred and he wrote the script. 

Related: Celebrity Couples and How They First Met

“She believes that she’s a good person, and all evidence points to that fact,” Parker, 49, told The Evening Standard in 2012. “So she just tells people the truth. As a result she’s the most popular person I know, her friends adore her.”

With reporting by Nicki Gostin

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