Rachel McAdams' 'Mom Life' Sounds Refreshingly Like Ours

Rachel McAdams gave us a rare insight into her family life with partner Jamie Linden, their kids, and their two dogs. Despite being the star of some of the biggest movies of our youth — Mean Girls and The Notebook to name a few — the A-lister seems to keep things pretty casual at home.

In a cover interview with Bustle, McAdams revealed that she has a quiet life in the South with her family, including two terrier mix dogs. “All my bikes have baby seats,” she said, explaining that her favorite thing to do is “to ride around town with one of her kids strapped to the back of her bike.”

Rachel McAdams shares how becoming a mom impacted her acting, particularly in her upcoming film, #ItsMeMargaret. @margaretmovie https://t.co/jSSRJ4SJzf

— SheKnows (@SheKnows) March 27, 2023

McAdams welcomed a baby boy in 2018, telling The Sunday Times U.K. at the time, “I want to keep his life private, even if mine isn’t.” She also welcomed a daughter in 2020.

Although she doesn’t share much about her kids, she did reveal a few more details about them in her interview with Bustle, which took place in Key West, Florida, where Judy Blume lives and owns a bookstore. McAdams stopped there to buy the Good Night Florida Keys picture book and two copies of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. This infamous book is the same one in which McAdams plays the mom, Barbara Simon, in the highly anticipated film adaption.

According to the outlet, she bought two copies, “One for her daughter to have when she reaches the right age, and one for her mom.)” She also bought another Blume book for her son, “Who recently learned about menstruation from watching Pixar’s Turning Red,” according to the article. Although the 5-year-old didn’t “quite grasp the concept.”

Riding bikes, reading Judy Blume, watching Disney+? McAdams sounds exactly like us as moms — and we love it! She doesn’t have to post a million pictures of her kids on Instagram for us to know how much she absolutely adores them in the small hints she gives us. It sounds like she wants them to grow up with a totally normal life out of the spotlight and more props to her. You could casually run into them at an ice cream shop or children’s hour at the library and never realize because they’ve been raised just like any other kid.

Rachel McAdams Wanted People to See Her Real Body

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In the interview with Bustle, McAdams also talked about breastfeeding her then 5-month-old daughter and pumping between shots.

“I felt like a milking machine,” she revealed.

When the costume designer suggested she go braless in her scenes, McAdams liked the idea. “The great irony is Margaret just can’t wait to get into a bra. But I’m playing a kind of wild child, hippie artist mom [who] doesn’t wear a bra throughout the whole film,” she said. McAdams added, “[We] really wanted Barb to feel like a real person who’s still figuring herself out, to put Margaret and her on similar trajectories.”

Being open with her body was a theme for McAdams, who requested minimal edited in her photos for the outlet.

“With this shoot, I’m wearing latex underwear. But I’ve had two children. This is my body, and I think that’s so important to reflect back out to the world,” she said.
Playing Barbara Was ‘Very Different’ As an Actual Mom

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McAdams plays the beloved mom in the Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret adaption of Judy Blume’s famous novel. Being a regular mom at home helped her land this role.

“Coming to this as a mom was very different for me,” McAdams told Entertainment Tonight last month. For one, she has more empathy for the younger actors. “To see through those eyes, you just remind yourself of what it was to be that age, and how hard it was,” she continued.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about that stuff.’ But of course, you’re worrying about that stuff,” she said. “That’s so sort of patronizing to say, ‘It’ll be fine.’ So, you gotta get back in your 12-year-old skin and realize how much everything mattered.”

She went on, “So trying to do that when playing Barb, but at the same time, trying to be wise for this little girl, and be the big person and put my big girl pants on. And be a good role model too. It was interesting to have read the book as a mother and approach it from there.”
Rachel McAdams’s Latest Role Is ‘Perfect’

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At the Los Angeles premiere of Margaret, McAdams gushed to PEOPLE about her latest role. “She’s such a great mom. She’s imperfect, but that makes her perfect.”

It was easy for her to connect with her character as a mom herself. “As a mom, it’s not too, too hard to find the messiness, the privilege of getting to watch a child grow up and be their parent. I think that’s a really lucky place, a spot to be in, and I think Barb feels that,” she said.