Outlander's Caitriona Balfe has recently opened up on the realities of becoming a new mum for the first time.
The Irish actress has been promoting her new film Belfast, who she stars alongside Jamie Dornan and Judi Dench, and made some recent revelations about motherhood.
Caitriona, 42, is best known for her role as Claire Fraser in the historical fantasy series Outlander alongside her on-screen husband Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser.
The mother-of-one was recently snubbed to fans dismay at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actress, as Kenneth Branagh's Belfast was nominated for seven awards.
In a recent interview, Caitriona opened up about her future as she admits she definitely ready to raise a family.
She said to RTE : "Being a new mum, I’m realising that my life is no longer my own! But you know, I think that’s something that, at this point in my life, I’m very ready for."
This isn't the only recent confession the Irish actress has made about motherhood, last month she chatted on an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert she opened up about parenting.
"He's almost five months," she began, adding: "I mean, I was excited to come here but I was very excited to sit on a plane and sleep for six hours. The red-eye was probably the most sleep I've had in the last six, seven months."
On what has surprised her most since becoming a mother, Caitriona told the American TV host: "Oh god, all of it! The love, the responsibility, that's all a lot."
She added: "The need for mopping up like puke or pee or the other, it's just a lot of things come out of a really cute little thing. It's like, how does that happen?!"
The Irish actress, 41, secretly married Scots band manager Anthony 'Tony' McGill in August 2019 and the couple tend to keep their relationship out of the spotlight.
Caitriona was pregnant while filming the sixth season of Outlander as she kept her pregnancy very private and low key at the time.
In a post to her 1.7million Instagram followers with a cute picture of a tiny little baby hand in hers, Caitriona wrote: "I’ve been off socials for a while as I was taking some time to enjoy cooking up this little human.
"We are so grateful for this little soul... that he chose us as his parents.
"I’m in awe of him already and can’t help stare and wonder at all the possibilities of who he will become, where he will go and what he’ll do on the big adventure of his life."
She reminded fans that she was not hiding her pregnancy, but just prefers to be private about her personal life with anyone outside of her immediate close friends and family.
Caitriona told Vanity Fair : “It’s not like I was hiding my pregnancy.
“Everybody at work knew, all of my friends knew, anyone I came into contact with in my life knew.
“But in terms of putting that out there, I don’t see the value in that.
“I think there’s certain things that are nice to have for yourself.
“When you have a kid, you become really protective, I don’t want those crazies—because that’s what they are—I just don’t want them talking about him.”
Caitriona opened up about shooting Outlander during her pregnancy with ELLE in December 2021.
She told the publication: "Pregnant for the entire season, yeah! I could’ve probably timed things a little better.
"But these things happen when they do. I was pregnant, there was COVID, it was winter, shooting every single day for 14-hour days…it wasn’t the easiest six months, but it was good.
"I have to say, our camera crew, in particular, a bunch of burly Scottish men, were the sweetest group and really looked after me.
"They’ve all become dads, I think, since we started shooting way back in season 1, and I’ve never had so much child-rearing advice or pregnancy advice or baby gear advice as I have from all of them, and it was just brilliant.
"They're legends, all of them, so a big thank you to them."
Outlander season six premieres on Sunday 6 March on Starz.
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