Charlotte Riley calls for childcare support
Charlotte Riley has called for more childcare support for parents in the film industry.
The ‘London Has Fallen’ star and her husband Tom Hardy – who share a 15-month-old child together – says the couple rely on their family and friends to help them look after for their kid when they’re busy working on a movie or television show.
She said: "Like most people we rely on family and friends for help with childcare, but that isn’t even a choice for a lot of people. Talking to women within the industry who love children and want to have children, some of them have found it incompatible to have children and a career.
"Anyone bringing children into the world has to think about the work/life balance, but being a mother is part of who I am now. I bring that into my work. It shouldn’t have to be one or the other."
And the 35-year-old actress says the problem affects the movie’s crew aswell and not just those in front of the camera.
She added to London’s Evening Standard newspaper: "So many other industries are years ahead of ours in creating a better work-life balance and helping parents and carers.
"It’s surprising when you think it’s an industry that’s meant to be about people and creativity that we can’t put that creative energy towards tackling this problem. It’s not just actors, but every department. I know camera people who don’t see their kids at all when they’re working."
Meanwhile, the 39-year-old actor – who also has eight-year-old son Louis with his ex-partner Rachael Speed – previously admitted that having kids made him "get his act together".
He revealed: "I wouldn’t say it saved my life, but it definitely changed my life. That was when the penny dropped that there was no longer very much time for me to think about myself any more – about what I might like to do or who I want to be – because there is somebody now on the planet who really needs me to get my act together and focus on something that is more important than me."
