Florence Pugh Wants To Talk About Motherhood & Ambition

In the year of Beyoncé 2024, it turns out that women are still having “The Discussion.” How, as a professionally ambitious women, are we meant to nurture our careers and nurture children? It’s a frustrating topic, due in no small measure to the fact that I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man worry about this. But also because, like it or not, it’s something those of us who want both a career and babies have to think about as a matter of practicality. And it turns out even movie stars like Florence Pugh are stumbling through the question and answer.

In a recent interview with Bustle on her upcoming film We Live In Time, Pugh reflected on her character Almut, a career-minded chef happily paired with Andrew Garfield’s sentimental Tobias. Early in their relationship, Almut is dead-set against having children. Ultimately (minor spoilers here, though not really if you’ve even seen the trailer for the tearjerker), the pair opt to have a child, but it’s a choice made with the kind of tough decisions that face women in particular in the real world as well.

In the interview with Bustle, Pugh says she was happy to bring this reality to the forefront in the film:

“I remember when I was 18 and my sister was 28, it was a conversation that my mom was having with her. It’s a conversation that all women have: what are they doing, how are they doing it, how are you going to get there? If you are that driven and you want to own the world that you’re working in and you want to feel like you’ve made it and you’re successful, the conversation of kids and when you’re going to do it and if you want it is always in the back of your mind. So I’m very grateful that I got to play a character like that because I am that story, my friends are that story.”

Pugh, 28, doesn’t have children, though she has expressed a desire for a big family in the future.

“I’ve wanted to have kids since I was a child myself,” she told People earlier this year. “I love the idea of a big family. I come from a big family. I love kids. I love hanging out with kids. If ever there’s a dinner party, I go straight to the kids to chat to them.”

Certainly, there are plenty of highly ambitious, accomplished women out there who have succeeded in having both a family and a lofty career. But this doesn’t happen without a tremendous amount of thoughtful, often agonizing planning, worrying, juggling, and struggle, at least at some point. It can be depressing, but it’s also refreshing to see that addressed more publicly. Maybe that’s the first in many steps forward.