Amanda Seyfried: "Once I Popped Out a Baby, I Was Just Playing Mothers"

Amanda Seyfried with slight smirk — (Image credit: Getty Images)

If there's one thing Hollywood is sure to do, it's cast women over a certain age in motherly roles. (Never forget Amy Poehler and Rachel McAdams playing a mother and daughter in Mean Girls, despite being just seven years apart IRL.) And it's not only an age thing. According to Amanda Seyfriend, once she became a mom, Hollywood stopped seeing her as anything else.

"It seems like once I popped out a baby, I was just playing mothers, and that's Hollywood for you," Seyfried said at the Berlin Film Festival (via Variety). "But I do think that the roles have become way richer and definitely challenging in ways that I didn’t have earlier in my career."

Amanda Seyfried attends the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on January 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California — Seyfried in gold at the Critics Choice Awards.

Still, Seyfried is content with the roles she's taking on these days, including her recent turn as unfulfilled mom Jeanine in Seven Veils. "I loved showing sides of her that weren't attractive," Seyfried said of the movie, per Variety. "I think that's really necessary in any story, because none of us are perfect."

Of course, Seyfried loves being a mom IRL. She regularly talks about her two children, Nina in Thomas, in various interviews. And she co-founded a sustainable children's playhouse company, Make It Cute, with two of her pals. But just because the actress loves being a mom doesn't mean that's all she is. Fortunately, she's finding the sweet spot with films like Seven Veils, where being a parent is just one part of the equation.

Meghan is a freelance news writer at Marie Claire. Her work has also appeared in Bustle, Refinery29, Popsugar, and other outlets. When she isn't writing, Meghan runs a community for plus-size people in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.