Saoirse Ronan has revealed that her mother Monica protected her from Hollywood abuse when she was a youngster.
She told Harpers Bazaar that her mam was always with her when she was working as a child star.
Ronan was never a victim of the abuse that Hollywood has become notorious for over the past few years. However, she believes there is a strong possibility that she may have been if her mother hadn’t been with her.
She said: “I don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t been around. I’m sure I would have been exposed to that quite a bit, but she just protected me from all that.
“I wasn’t unaware that there were people in the industry who abused their power, or who were seedy or untrustworthy. But because of her I was never a victim and I’m very, very thankful.
“I didn’t leave home at 19 all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – I hadn’t been wrapped in cotton wool – but I had been protected.”
Mary Queen of Scots and Lady Bird are among a string of strong female roles that Ronan has played over the last few years.
She says she is pleased to have the opportunity to play such three-dimensional characters. “From a purely selfish point of view, I’ve always wanted to play characters who are well-rounded and interesting and smart, or who are intelligently written.
“And because that’s what I’ve always wanted to get out of it, the films end up reflecting that. They’re the only roles I want to play. Even when I was a kid, I knew I didn’t just want to play ‘the sister’, or ‘the girlfriend’, or ‘the secretary’.
“That was always a priority for me, to play someone who –even if they were only in a few scenes – really had something to them.”
Ronan added that audiences are becoming more used to seeing women play lead roles in movies that are not necessarily made just for women – although there is still room for improvement.
She said: “‘With Lady Bird the amount of guys who would come up to me – and I had it with Brooklyn as well – and be like, ‘I’m not usually into films like that, but ah… I really liked that, and I even cried a little bit because I loved it so much’.
“And I’m like ’What kind of films do you mean’” Of course, they mean female-led movies. But the thing is, whether there’s a girl or a boy leading it, Lady Bird is about someone preparing to leave home.
“That’s it. And the more specific you can make it to one person’s experience, the more universal it will be.”
Take a look at the trailer for Mary Queen of Scots below.
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling
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