From a mean girl to a working mom. Rachel McAdams has played many memorable roles over the years, but her favorite one is her real-life gig as a mother.
“It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, hands down,” the Game Night star told The Sunday Times in November 2018. “[People say] your life is not your own any more, but I had 39 years of me, I was sick of me, I was so happy to put the focus on some other person.”
It was reported in February 2018 that McAdams was expecting her first child with boyfriend Jamie Linden — whom Us Weekly confirmed she was dating in 2016. A few months after her pregnancy news broke, the two welcomed their son in April 2018.
In August 2020, it was revealed that The Notebook star was pregnant with her and Linden’s second child. Though they never publicly announced their second child’s birth, McAdams told Access Hollywood in May 2022 that they had welcomed a daughter.
“I waited a long time [for motherhood],” McAdams told The Sunday Times. “It’s just how it happened. And I didn’t want to do it before it was the right time.”
Though she’s been in the spotlight since the early 2000s — starring in films such as The Hot Chick and Wedding Crashers — the actress prefers to keep her kids’ lives out of the public eye. McAdams and Linden have not publicly revealed their children’s names.
“I want to keep his life private, even if mine isn’t,” she said of her son. “But I’m having more fun being a mum than I’ve ever had. Everything about it is interesting and exciting and inspiring to me. Even the tough days — there’s something delightful about them.”
The Oscar nominee shared more insight into her and the screenwriter’s parenting lifestyle in an April 2023 interview with Bustle. “All my bikes have baby seats,” she revealed, noting that she and Linden enjoy taking their children on bike rides in their spare time.
She went on to note that her own motherhood experiences helped influence her character in the 2023 film Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, in which she plays the titular tween’s mom, Barbara Simon.
Having filmed the movie — based on the book of the same name by Judy Blume — five months after giving birth to her daughter, the Red Eye star noted that she was a “milking machine” on set, prompting her to suggest that her character not wear a bra.
“The great irony is Margaret just can’t wait to get into a bra. But I’m playing a kind of wild child, hippie artist mom [who] doesn’t wear a bra throughout the whole film,” McAdams explained. “[We] really wanted Barb to feel like a real person who’s still figuring herself out, to put Margaret and her on similar trajectories.”
Sporting latex underwear for her photo shoot with Bustle, the Time Traveler’s Wife actress said she wanted to normalize how mothers’ bodies change after giving birth. “This is my body, and I think that’s so important to reflect back out to the world,” she stated, adding, “It’s OK to look your best and work at it and be healthy, but that’s different for everyone.”
Scroll below to read more of McAdams’ best quotes about motherhood:
