The Most Touching Jennifer Connelly Quotes on Motherhood

Jennifer Connelly at the premiere of Noah

Jennifer Connelly has been making headlines since she was just a child. The now famous actress got her start as a child model after her parents sent an image of her to the Ford Modeling Agency.  Connelly was signed to the agency shortly after and began modeling for advertisements and commercials.  Connelly eventually transitioned to acting where she received her breakthrough role in the 1986 film, Labyrinth.  In the film, Connelly played the role of Sarah, a young girl who was on a mission to rescue her brother from an evil world. Although Connelly was thankful for the opportunities she had been given, she has since admitted that she did not initially want a career in acting.

After a brief stint in college, Connelly returned to acting in 1990 where she continued her acting career with a role in the film The Hot Spot.  Although the film was not largely success at the box office, critics praised Connelly’s performance.  A reviewer from USA Today stated: “Anyone looking for proof that little girls do grow up fast in the movies should take a gander at curvaceous Jennifer Connelly in The Hot Spot. Not yet 20, Connelly has neatly managed the transition from child actress to ingenue.”  Connelly continued to grow up in front of the camera, and by the time she reached adulthood, she had become a bonafide superstar, hailed for both her acting skills and her beauty. Her career received another boost in 2000 after her role in the biopic film, Pollock, in which she played Ruth Kligman, mistress to the film’s namesake, Jackson Pollock.  Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times, stated: “Ms. Connelly has never before done anything to prepare us for how good she is here.”

Connelly continued to give viewers her best, and throughout the years, she has earned some of the acting’s most prestigious awards, including a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award.  Although Connelly’s achievements and long-lasting career are certainly something to be proud of, these days her forces has shifted to something a little more important.  Now a mother of three,  Connelly says that her children have impacted her career in the best way possible and she now thinks of them before making any decisions.  Here are five of the most touching quotes from Jennifer Connelly on motherhood.

5. “I feel more comfortable in my own skin now than I ever have…I think there’s something about loving Kai [her son] so much, in a way that I’ve never loved anyone, including myself. Also, I used to spend a lot of time alone, but he’s this incredibly social kind of guy, so all of a sudden I’m always having people in and out of my house. It’s changed the way I feel as a citizen of the world. And it’s really important to me to feel good about what I’m working on, to justify the number of hours I’d have to be away from him.”

Although most people would describe parenthood as a life-changing experience, Jennifer Conelly admits oldest son, Kai Dugan, has helped change the way she views the world.  Connelly now has a total of three children (two with her husband Paul Bettany); however, Dugan was Connelly’s only child for six years.

4. “It [motherhood] has changed absolutely everything. I mean, it’s changed my life. I think I’ve changed as a human being more since I’ve had Kai than in any other period in my life…It’s such an incredible catalyst for growth. I found myself questioning absolutely everything: how I spend my time, how I speak, what kind of projects I work on, how I look at the world.”

Connelly takes her responsibilities as a mother very seriously.  She shares that the birth of her first son not only helped her grow, but taught her to question things she never had before.

3. “You make mistakes as a parent. Then you wish you hadn’t said that, or you wish you hadn’t told them how to dress. You cringe.”

Admitting mistakes can be difficult; however, making them is unavoidable.  Connelly openly expresses her awareness that even parents are capable of making cringe-worthy mistakes.  However, Connelly’s unwavering dedication to her children shows that she is attempting to do everything in her power to keep those mistakes to a minimum.

2. “Everything changes as a mother. Yes, work has changed. The projects that I choose are even more important to me now. The world he’s growing up in and the kind of stimulus that is out there; they are so precious and I’d do anything to protect him.”

Many celebrities have often been criticized about their career choices after motherhood.  Most recently, Kim Kardashian, now the mother of a young daughter, has received a lot of media negative attention after choosing  to pose nude on the cover of a magazine.  Early in her career, Connelly made a similar career move when she was featured in a nude scene in the film, The Hot Spot.  At the time, Connelly told an interviewer: “The nudity was hard for me and something I thought about…but it’s not in a sleazy context.” However, the likelihood of Connelly taking on such a role now seem to be a little more unlikely.  She says that motherhood has made her even more conscious of her career choices, and she hopes to continue to make decisions that her and her children can be proud of.

1. “I am just blessed they are such great, really wonderful kids…”

This quote is short, simple, and to the point.  Although Connelly was certainly blessed long before she became a mother, her children have added an immense amount of joy to her life.

(Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

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