Alicia Vikander reflects on-screen births as she welcomes second child

Alicia Vikander admitted to feeling like an "imposter" when portraying childbirth scenes on screen before experiencing motherhood herself.

In an interview with Elle, she confessed, "I gave birth four times on screen before I did it myself."

Vikander, who shares two children with her husband Michael Fassbender, revealed she welcomed her second child this year.

She expressed her previous discomfort with on-screen childbirth scenes, saying, "Your job is to pretend as an actor, but every time I had to give birth, I said to every woman on set, 'I'm sorry.' I felt like such an imposter."

On pregnancy and childbirth, Vikander continued, “All women have such different experiences, and going through it a second time was definitely harder for me. But I think training made it easier. Going through those nine months is like a marathon, so it does help if you’re strong going into it. It’s so physically demanding, and I have so much admiration for any woman who has done it.”

In another section of the article, Vikander and Taylor Russell had a talk. Speaking about Vikander's portrayal of Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII in Firebrand, which debuted at Cannes last year and in theatres last month, both actresses—who co-star in the upcoming thriller Hope—also discussed the role.

“I had this moment where I was embarrassed when I first read the script,” Vikander shared.

“I didn’t know anything about this woman. She was the first woman to ever be published in British history. How come I had never heard of her? I asked around my British friends and nobody knew that fact either. That’s quite a big moment in history for women! And so, I went back and read her books, which was so interesting because it was an incredible way of getting personal contact with someone who lived 500 years ago. To have Henry as her husband who, on a whim, just kills anyone he wants, including his wives, is such an emotional trauma. You realize how tough times have been, and the reality of women’s experiences in that.”