Jessie Buckley Became a Mother for ‘Hamnet.’ Then She Became One for Real.

Modern Love

The New York Times

Love, New York Times, Nytimes, Essay, Loss, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Redemption, Nyt

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The actor Jessie Buckley says she wasn’t surprised that she got pregnant right after she finished shooting “Hamnet.” The film — starring Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare and Buckley as his wife, Agnes — tells the story of a couple grieving the loss of their only son. “When I was filming ‘Hamnet,’ I deeply wanted to become a mother,” Buckley says. “And it was such a gift to move through this woman and her motherhood and her love and her loss before I became a mother myself.” On this episode of “Modern Love,” Buckley describes how she was able to access the vulnerability she portrayed onscreen. And she talks about how her life has changed since having her own child. Plus, she reads the Modern Love essay “The Wrong Kind of Inheritance” by Victoria Dougherty.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now and love.
0:03.0	Love was stronger than anything.
0:07.0	And I love you more than anything.
0:10.3	What is love?
0:11.0	There's to love.
0:15.8	From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
0:18.2	This is Modern Love.
0:20.1	I just saw the new movie Hamlet, starring Paul
0:23.4	Meskell and Jesse Buckley. They play William Shakespeare and his wife, Anyes, grieving the loss
0:29.1	of their only son. And while a movie is fiction, it's based on real events that might have
0:34.1	inspired Shakespeare to write his play, Hamlet. This is a devastating, brilliant movie.
0:42.1	Jesse Buckley is masterful.
0:43.9	I think she stole the show.
0:45.5	Which is why I was so excited to sit down with her
0:47.7	to talk about this role,
0:49.5	her experience of playing a mother on screen,
0:52.0	and then the experience of becoming a mother in real life.
0:55.4	Plus, she reads an essay about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter.
1:03.8	Jessie Buckley, welcome to the show.
1:06.1	Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me.
1:08.4	You recently had a baby. Congratulations.
1:10.7	Thank you. How is everyone doing? Everyone recently had a baby. Congratulations. Thank you.
	...

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