Claire Danes Calls Motherhood "Incredibly Challenging": "You Always Feel Beholden to Somebody"

Plus, the Homeland star opens up about her famous "cry face"

By Brett Malec Sep 02, 2014 11:45 PMTags
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Claire Danes is opening up about the challenges of motherhood.

In the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar U.K., the 35-year-old actress, who gave birth to son Cyrus in December 2012, says parenting isn't always easy.

"Being a mum is incredibly challenging, but we still feel a pressure to talk about it in very romantic terms. And it's not just that," Danes tells the mag (October issue on sale Sept. 3). "We all have that resentment at times and anxiety about being trapped by the role, that responsibility. And then chemically it can run riot...And there's no ‘off' button. [For me] that was the hardest adjustment. You always feel beholden to somebody...And for so long they're like koala bears, you just feel a physical responsibility to be there for them to cling to. It's pretty primal."

Motherhood woes aside, Danes says little Cyrus is experiencing adorable firsts all the time. "He's kind of revealing himself to be a bit of a ham," she said, "which shouldn't really be a surprise. A babysitter gave him a kiss goodbye and now he does ‘Mwah, mwah' to everybody. Or he says ‘Ciao.' It's ridiculous. I did not teach him that. He sings ‘Ee-eye ee-eye oh' to himself all the time. And he's a toddler, so he says ‘No' and ‘More' a lot and he's just started to have temper tantrums. It's scary."

Danes also gushed about her hubby Hugh Dancy.

"I'm genuinely in love with him," she said, adding, "And I like hard things. You know, marriage is hard, but I'm up for it. I don't do anything casually so dating is not for me. I would be marrying everyone I was with. When I met Hugh I was single for the first time and really looking forward to it, kind of bragging, ‘I'm going to rock this.' Then I met Hugh...But I like getting into [a relationship]. It's more fun [than being single]. There's so much opportunity if you are interested in each other to go further. It's kind of a beautiful exercise."