Hollywood star Dakota Fanning feels becoming a mother is “more important to me than anything” and is unsure of how much she would like to continue acting when she has children.
The American actress, 30, is known for the Twilight Saga film series and period drama Effie Gray, after her success as a child in 2001’s I Am Sam.
Speaking to Net-A-Porter’s digital title, Porter magazine, Fanning said: “Being an actor is a huge part of my identity. I don’t really know who I would be without it.
“But I also have a desire to set up my life and career so that I always have a choice.
“Having kids is probably more important to me than anything, even being an actor. If somebody said I had to choose, I would choose having kids. I’m one of those people who has always felt that pull.”
She could not say “how much I’ll want to work” after having children but said she will take “advantage of the adventures now”.
Fanning said: “I’m trying to push myself to keep saying yes to things that make me uncomfortable, to keep going to places for long periods of time that maybe I’m scared to do because, God willing, one day it won’t be as easy.”
She also talked about how she does not “want to be a person who is so consumed with my professional life that I miss all the other stuff”.
Fanning thinks any film project with her and her sister Elle Fanning, known for Hulu series The Great and Maleficent, will need vetting.
She said: “We’re very ceremonial about firsts in our family. Elle and me together in a movie – we will think about it and talk about it until we decide the right thing, because you can’t get it back.”
In I Am Sam, Elle played a younger version of Fanning’s character, for which the later became the youngest person to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Fanning will soon be seen in Netflix series Ripley, based on US novelist Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
To see the full feature with Dakota Fanning go to Porter’s website net-a-porter.com.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here