Award-winning actress Zoe Saldana is no stranger to the big screen, where she’s played some of the industry’s most challenging roles, including Nina Simone in the self-titled biopic in which she later apologized.
“I should have never played Nina. I should have done everything in my power with the leverage that I had 10 years ago, which was a different leverage, but it was leverage nonetheless. I should have done everything in my power to cast a black woman to play an exceptionally perfect black woman.”
But even with the backlash she received when cast for the role, she said being a parent has been her “most challenging role.”
The Avatar: The Way of Water actress, who is the mother of two 8-year-old twin boys, Cy and Bowie and six-year-old Zen said that she is in a constant state of worry about how she is raising them, adding that she’s found it difficult to balance between giving them space while also guiding them to make the right decisions.
“It’s absolutely chaos but so much fun in my house. What is it like in your house?” the 44-year-old actress disclosed to Ashley Graham during a red carpet interview for the Oscars pre-show. Graham, a star in her own right, is the mother to 14-month-old twins Malachi and Roman.
“You worry all the time. You have to keep them alive.”
She continued: “You really have to guide their curiosity, but you can’t get in their way. They came through you but they don’t belong to you. They belong to themselves. It’s literally the most challenging role I continuously play. I hope they’re okay with it.”
She further revealed that she wasn’t prepared for all the sleepless nights that come with being a parent.
“I have to tell you … the one thing I wish I would have been more prepared with is just the lack of sleep.”
Late last year, the New Jersey native said that her children are big fans of Avatar, but “they’re not watching it. They’re still too young,” adding that “my kids tend to be very vocal about what is appropriate for them and what is inappropriate, and they have just such gentle hearts. But they wanted to walk the red carpet, the blue carpet, and so we told them, ‘No. You can walk a blue carpet with us when you’re old enough to watch the movie.’”
