Caitriona Balfe has opened up about the challenges of filming the latest instalment of Outlander while pregnant.
The Irish actress is best known for her role as the leading lady in the Starz drama where she plays a time travelling nurse Claire Fraser alongside her on screen husband Jamie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan.
Caitriona, 42, was pregnant while filming the sixth series and recently opened up about the challenges which came alongside this.
In particular, this involved dealing with “heavy” themes on the show that her character faces.
She said: “Claire’s story was very heavy this season.
“And it’s very heavy material as well.
“So I was just like, ‘Does your body know if you’re pretending to be stressed and upset and angry?’”
She added to the Observer: “Because you’re going through all the motions to get yourself into a state where you’re crying or shouting or scared, and there were times where I must have been four or five months pregnant and I’m running around shooting guns.
“And I’m like, ‘What does this child think?’
“It must be like, ‘Who the f**k is my mother? What am I being born into?’”
Outlander fans will be excited to see the star return to screens soon as the season premieres in early March.
However, they can also catch her as the star of the new film Belfast, which she’s been generating Oscar-buzz for alongside Jamie Dornan and Judi Dench.
Written by Kenneth Branagh, it follows a working-class Northern Irish Protestant family from the perspective of their nine-year-old son as it is set during The Troubles in Belfast, it examines ordinary life at this time.
The film has been met with critical acclaim and has already been nominated for the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards.
Caitriona recently opened up about the film’s impact in an interview with Vogue.
She said: “There’s a young generation who are coming up, who didn’t live through the Troubles, and there is again that kind of romanticism to having a cause and fighting for a cause.
“Maybe it’s too much to ask for a film to change people’s minds, but I think it’s important that people see it.”
“Anything that can prove that there are no winners at the end of all that is good for the next generation to see.”
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