Emily Blunt reveals she is taking a break from acting

By Amarachi Orie, CNN

(CNN) — Emily Blunt has revealed she is taking a break from acting this year to spend more time with her family.

The British actress, who is married and shares two daughters with fellow actor John Krasinski, made the comments during an appearance on the “Table for Two” podcast, released Monday.

Asked by podcast host Bruce Bozzi how she manages her career with being a mother, Blunt said: “Not always well, you know. It’s one of those things when people are like, ‘How do you balance it?’ I never feel like I’m doing it right, you know. But this year I’m not working.”

Since the birth of Blunt and Krasinski’s two daughters, Hazel and Violet in 2014 and 2016 respectively, the British actress has worked on projects including “A Quiet Place” and “A Quiet Place Part II,” “Mary Poppins Returns” and the 2022 TV mini-series “The English.”

She has several upcoming projects including “Oppenheimer,” which will be released on July 21 – the same day as the “Barbie” movie.

“I worked quite a bit last year and my oldest baby is nine – like we’re in the last year of single digits – and I just feel there’s cornerstones to their day that is so important when they’re little,” Blunt added.

“And it’s, ‘Will you wake me up?’, ‘Will you take me to school?’, ‘Will you pick me up?’, ‘Will you put me to bed?’ And I just need to be there for all of them. For a good stretch. And I just felt that in my bones,” she continued.

Blunt, who has spoken publicly over the last few years about how acting helped her overcome stuttering, said she had “a beautiful time” on her projects last year, but admitted: “Some were more intense than others. Some were harder than others. Some were more time-consuming than others, and the ones that are time-consuming I think, for me, are becoming few and further between because of just the emotional cost on me, on the kids, on balance.”

She went on to describe the “guilt” that her and other mothers are prone to feeling “for, god-forbid, wanting something outside of being a mother,” adding: “I want my kids to grow up and find something they adore doing.”

The 40-year-old, who used to live on the same block as Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly McNearney, in Los Angeles, revealed that she now lives in the same building as her Oppenheimer co-star Matt Damon and his wife, Luciana Barroso, in New York. “I don’t ever see Matt Damon not in his slippers anymore,” she said.

“Matt is just the most easy-going, beautiful person. Lucy is even more beautiful – sorry Matt,” she added.

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