Culture

‘Motherhood is quite scary . . . before this I was only responsible for me’ - exclusive interview with Caitríona Balfe

The cover star of Irish Tatler has been been busy — with a two-month-old son, an Oscar-tipped film, and another season of Outlander in the can. Oh, and did we mention the environmental campaigning or the gin?

Caitríona Balfe: ‘I’m not usually a nervous or anxious person at all but the pregnancy added a layer of that. My schedule was punishing. I worked 14 hours a day, five days a week. I would come home, and my husband would say you need to eat something, but I would already be asleep’. Photography: Neil Gavin. Styling: Aisling Farinella

Caitríona Balfe doesn’t look like a new mum. She doesn’t have the tired, dazed look of the truly sleep-deprived, nor does she wear the frantic expression of a woman pulled forcibly from her life by nappies and night feeds. She sits in front of me, calm and implacable, her forty-two-year-old face screened by a pair of oversized black frames, her dark hair scraped into a bun. When I comment on her composure, she laughs.

“He’s ...