I linked to E Alex Jung’s piece on Jodie Turner-Smith for The Cut last week in What Else?, and this is where I want to start, because there’s a lot of gossip but also a lot of film and television industry insight that applies to any business, any working woman, no matter what the work actually is. And that is what I appreciate the most about what Jodie was willing to share with E Alex Jung: the day-to-day reality of being a single mother which, right now, includes “bopping from place to place” with her daughter, Juno, who she co-parents with Joshua Jackson.
When Jodie and Josh were together, they lived at the home he’s owned since he first moved to LA. When they split last year, she moved out and she’s been staying here and there with friends and in hotels or whatever accommodation is set up for her when she’s shooting. Lately that’s back and forth between London and LA, because as she says, “I don’t have the luxury of turning down a job because of location. I am a single mom now. ’I got a baby. I need some money. I need cheese for my egg.”
Compare this to, say, Barry Keoghan, who broke up with his ex when their baby was just a year old, maybe even younger, and moved to LA temporarily during award season to build on the momentum of Saltburn. Worrying about childcare etc? Doesn’t seem to be an issue. Jodie, meanwhile, tells E Alex that she had to turn down a job because production “couldn’t allow her daughter to come to her trailer to nurse”.
And Jodie’s job just isn’t about being on set. The reality for many stars these days as that work involves promotion, attending events, showing up for brands – it’s travel and an unpredictable schedule, and Jodie does have certain benefits that many non-celebrities don’t. The biggest one is that her own mom, Hilda, is with her and Juno all the time. There’s an interesting bit at the end of the piece when Jodie’s committed to a work event with Margot Robbie and the team from the film they’ve just worked on together, sounds like a wrap party of sorts. But Jodie’s at home with her kid and it’s bed and bath time and she’s not all glammed up and she’s already late and…
“Turner-Smith is supposed to dress up and lead the group in singing “All That Jazz,” but she has already changed into an oversize Care Bears T-shirt (can’t get curry on Beyoncé) and decides she’ll just go as she is. “Stop stressing yourself,” Hilda says to her. “That’s why I’m saying to you, Jodie, ‘I am here.’”
So the energy and the effort, it’s not just filming, right? It’s the networking, the bonding that happens out of the office, the after-work drinks, the golf tournaments, this is all part of the work, in any industry, that can make a difference in a career. Last year there was an article in the Wall Street Journal about how female executives “miss out on a lot of networking opportunities” because they don’t play golf. Golf takes hours and in those hours you learn so much about your colleagues and organisations you do business with – 70% of Fortune 100 CEOs said they do business with someone they’ve met on the golf course!
But if you’re a female executive, and you have children, do you have five hours, minimum, to do that on a weekly basis or more?! Per that WSJ piece:
“Women often have unequal access to leisure time. Female executives may be caring for children and aging parents in addition to their professional responsibilities. Consequently, they may prioritize paid work during business hours and skip networking opportunities.”
That’s Jodie and her work party, and one of the reasons why she had to go in her Care Bears t-shirt, and why her ma was telling her not to stress. I can’t imagine Barry Keoghan was stressing when he was doing the award season circuit, you know? And I’m not targeting him here, it’s just an apt comparison considering they have children around-ish the same age and went through breakups around-ish the same time. Mostly though, I’m just here applauding Jodie and E Alex Jung making this a feature of this article. It might not be the sexiest thing to include in a celebrity profile but it is necessary and it doesn’t take away from what could be seen as the juicy bits.
I mean, she doesn’t spell it out… but reading between the lines, it sounds like one of the reasons Jodie and Joshua broke up is because she felt like he expected her to work less after she had the baby? Following the revelation that she had to step away from a part because she couldn’t nurse in her trailer, she also shared this:
“I’ve had to turn things down because of other people too,” she says. Like who? She pauses. “Now I’m being cryptic. How do I say this?” she says, looking into the distance. “Or how do I say something that isn’t incendiary? Look, when somebody becomes a mother, it does not mean that they stop being everything else that they are. And choosing to have a child with somebody who works means making space for the fact that they need to work and mother together.”
She’s talking about her personal situation, as an actor who was married to another actor, but she’s also talking about the heterosexual situation all working mothers find themselves in. And shouldn’t the world — yes individual men, but institutions more broadly — support working mothers in both roles, rather than ask them to choose one over the other? She sees it happening with her friends: a reversion to gender orthodoxy. “No matter how forward-thinking they say they are, men are subject to the conditioning under which they have been raised. And there is just a little part of every man, which says ‘Once a woman has his child, they need to operate in a certain way,’ that is more indicative of limited traditional roles than it is of reality. Every creative needs a partner who’s got to support their choices.”
Are you reading into that the way I am?
If I’m reading that right, it must have been a nerve for her, because we’re now openly acknowledging that Jodie’s big career breakthrough in Queen & Slim came just as the gossip ecosystem was meeting her as Joshua Jackson’s partner. Her professional and personal identity has been inextricably linked to him – and then came the baby, but of course she would have wanted to keep going with the momentum in her career, especially during COVID, with whatever opportunities were available. This too, in my opinion, is a unique female complication. It’s why “we can have it all” is such a triggering expression. Can we? Do we really have permission to have it all? And is the world set up for us to have it when we want it? Add in the pressure of being in the public eye and, well, their relationship couldn’t withstand it. It could not withstand the fact that workplaces are simply not set up to support working mothers and that society is still trying to undo centuries of conditioning about gender roles and responsibilities. And now here we are, Jodie and Josh are trying to co-parent with grace and kindness while she keeps hustling – and in that hustle, letting us see some of the realities that she has to manage. But still serving looks!
Last night she was at an event to celebrate Naomi Campbell in London wearing the sh-t out of a gorgeous pink suit. I love the cut of the pants and the glasses!
