Anna Paquin keeps her children away from the spotlight because of her own painful experience of growing up in the public eye.
The former True Blood star shot to fame as a child actor, going on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1994 for the film The Piano when she was just 11 years old.
Now 35, she is a mother to five-year-old twins Charlie and Poppy, with husband and former co-star Stephen Moyer, and the couple have decided not to show off pictures of the children.
“Everyone chooses what works for their family. There are aspects of one’s private life that are fun and cute and not too revealing,” she explained to Today.com on Thursday (08Feb18). “I’ve always been very private… That’s part of having been a teenager and feeling constantly, brutally self-conscious and not wanting anyone to stare at me but having a job where that was part of it.”
The actress is adamant that people “won’t find any pictures of my children”, and she explained it is a choice she and Moyer “specifically” decided on for them.
In WGN’s mystery series Bellevue, Anna, plays a detective fixated on work, with most other things a distant second – except her daughter. Like her character on the show, Anna will stop at nothing to protect her kids.
“I want the right to say that they’re not fair game,” she said, adding with a laugh, “Don’t mess with my cubs.”
When asked how she copes with raising twins, Anna admitted she’s “exhausted all the time” but spared a thought for the mothers of triplets who “don’t have enough arms to grab each child.”
“How the eff do you raise triplets? It’s lucky that you have two hands. You have two boobs, two legs, two hands. Two kids are plenty,” and she added, “You figure out where the enclosed playgrounds are. It’s a bit of a logistical joke.”
