Jodie Turner-Smith says childbirth is 'goddess-level s***'

Kerry Justich
·2 min read

Jodie Turner-Smith is gearing up for the release of the film Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, where she’ll be starring alongside Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell. And although the majority of the hard-hitting action is done by her co-stars, Turner-Smith is making sure that people don’t discount the effort she exerted filming while pregnant.

“The men think they’re hard-core,” the 34-year-old actress told Elle for the January 2021 digital cover, “but they could never do what they do while also making a baby. They just couldn’t.”

Turner-Smith was in the second trimester of her pregnancy with now 8-month-old daughter Janie Jackson, who the actress shares with actor Joshua Jackson. The couple kept their relationship quiet for some time before appearing on a red carpet together in November 2019 and marrying in secret the following month. In April, Turner-Smith and Jackson welcomed their first child together, opting for a home birth because of concerns over higher mortality rates for Black mothers.

Jodie Turner-Smith speaks about parenting during a pandemic. (Photo: Getty Images)
Jodie Turner-Smith speaks about parenting during a pandemic. (Photo: Getty Images)

“We had already decided on a home birth because of concerns about negative birth outcomes for Black women in America,” Turner-Smith shared in an essay for British Vogue in September. “According to the [CDC], the risk of pregnancy-related deaths is more than three times greater for Black women than for white women, pointing, it seems to me, to systemic racism.”

Turner-Smith wearing pieces from Gucci's collaboration with North Face. (Photo: Ruth Ossai for Elle)
Turner-Smith wearing pieces from Gucci's collaboration with North Face. (Photo: Ruth Ossai for Elle)

Turner-Smith shared with Elle what else she had learned from the experience of childbirth. “Patriarchal society really is out here, scamming women into thinking that they’re not supremely powerful beings,” she said. “Because damn, it’s some goddess-level s***.”

And although Turner-Smith continued to act and direct during pregnancy, she opened up about the difficult journey that lies in parenting, especially during a global pandemic.

“Navigating parenthood at any time is difficult and it’s even more difficult without support, when everything is shut down and you can’t really see other people or go anywhere,” she said, giving additional praise to the parents of school-age children. “I’m not having to sit on Zoom with [Janie] and suddenly become her educator as well as her caretaker.”

Aside from her responsibilities at work and at home, Turner-Smith is finding peace through nature and clothing. “If we can mix fashion with me getting my outdoor situations on, it’s a very beautiful marriage of two things,” she says, as an ambassador for Gucci, which released a collaboration with The North Face. “We all need a little bit of carefree energy right now.”

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Longtime Justice Department official Monty Wilkinson is expected to assume the role of acting attorney general while Judge Merrick Garland awaits confirmation by the Senate. ___ 9:20 a.m. President Donald Trump has followed at least one presidential tradition. The White House says the Republican president left behind a note for his successor, Democrat Joe Biden. Deputy press secretary Judd Deere declined to reveal what Trump wrote to Biden or to characterize the sentiment in the note, citing privacy for communication between presidents. Trump has refused to publicly concede to Biden and did not mention the Democrat by name in a pair of farewell addresses. Trump interrupted many traditions of the presidency, including by not attending Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. Trump also did not invite Biden to the White House for a meeting after Biden was declared the winner of November’s presidential election Trump left the White House for the final time as president on Wednesday morning, saying, “It’s been a great honour, the honour of a lifetime.” ___ 9:05 a.m. President Donald Trump says he thinks the new administration will have “great success” and claims to have laid the foundation for it. Trump says the new administration has the “foundation to do something really spectacular.” He made brief farewell remarks at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews before he boarded Air Force One for a flight to his Florida home. Trump did not mention President-elect Joe Biden by name during his Wednesday remarks. Trump told cheering, chanting supporters he’ll be watching and listening from a distance. He promised he will be back “in some form” and wished the crowd a “good life” before he and his wife boarded the plane. Trump wanted to be in Florida before Biden becomes president at noon. ___ 8:35 a.m. President-elect Joe Biden is attending church ahead of his inauguration, a traditional step taken ahead of the swearing-in ceremony. Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden on Wednesday are attending a service at Washington’s Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. With them are incoming Vice-President Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff. At Biden’s invitation, the first couple is joined by a bipartisan group of members of Congress, including all four top-ranking members of congressional leadership. That includes both Senate leaders, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Chuck Schumer, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. Many presidents have chosen St. John’s Episcopal Church, sometimes called “Church of the Presidents,” for the inaugural day service. Biden is the second Catholic U.S. president, and St. Matthew’s is the seat of the Catholic archbishop of Washington. Biden spent Tuesday night at Blair House, a traditional move ahead of a president’s inauguration. ___ 8:15 a.m. Donald Trump has left the White House for the final time as president. Trump emerged from the building Wednesday morning and strode across the South Lawn to board Marine One. He said, “It’s been a great honour, the honour of a lifetime.” Trump now heads to Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland, where he’ll have a military sendoff. A red carpet has been placed on the tarmac for Trump to walk as he boards the plane. Four U.S. Army cannons are set up for a 21-gun salute. Trump then flies to Florida, where he’ll stay at Mar-a-Lago. Trump is leaving Washington just hours before Joe Biden takes the oath of office as the 46th president. It’s the first time in more than a century that a sitting president has rejected the tradition of attending his successor’s inauguration. ___ 7:45 a.m. Two of the Biden administration’s top communications officials are describing the incoming president’s inaugural address as a forward-looking speech that will make little to no mention of his predecessor. Communications director Kate Bedingfield told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that President-elect Joe Biden’s address would “speak to the moment that we are in, but it will also lay out a vision for the future.” Biden press secretary Jen Psaki tells CNN that Biden’s inaugural address is “definitely not a speech about Donald Trump” and she “wouldn’t expect” to hear about him in it. Bedingfield says Biden had not had any contact with the outgoing president. Asked why Biden had invited political opponents including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to join him at a Mass on Wednesday morning, Psaki said it “felt important to him personally to have members of both parties ... and use that as an example to the American public.” Bedingfield says Biden will sign 15 executive orders in some of his first moves as president. ___ 7:35 a.m. As the sun rose over Washington’s Freedom Plaza between the U.S. Capitol and the White House ahead of Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, clusters of soldiers in full battle fatigues clustered inside metal barriers erected to restrict access to the procession route. Some yellow placards on the barriers read “Biden-Harris 2021,” while others carried the seal of the presidency or inaugural insignias. American and District of Columbia flags flapped in high winds. Traffic has been blocked off nearby in all directions. Revelers have been told to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 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    TORONTO — Canadians tuned in Wednesday with a mixture of relief and optimism to watch the swearing in of Joe Biden as U.S. president amid concerns about potential violence south of the border and the omnipresent threat of COVID-19. Given the pandemic, most in-person viewing gatherings of the pageantry gave way to virtual events as some expressed relief at the lifting of what they saw as the dark cloud of Donald Trump's presidency. "Watching as I always do, but this one seems more significant," said Nicole Caron, a former provincial civil servant in Ottawa. "It returns to America the values that hold true for many democracies, with a focus on inclusivity and that everyone has a hand in moving forward, together." At home with her daughter in Montreal, Wanda Kagan watched the inauguration of her best friend from high school, Vice-President Kamala Harris. It was, she said, a very special moment despite the disappointment of not being able to go to Washington, D.C. “It’s not the way you’d like to watch it when you were invited to the most historic day of your friend's life," Kagan said. “Anyone can make history but only a great woman can write history and that’s what she’s going to do." Harris lived briefly in Montreal before graduating in 1981 and Kagan met her at Westmount High School. The pair became close friends — two kids transferring to a bigger high school, both from biracial families. The pandemic placed limits on the size of the mask-wearing crowd that would typically gather in the U.S. capital for the grand inauguration ceremony. So did the lingering threat of violence after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a futile bid to stop the transition of power, egged on by the former president himself. Thousands of National Guard troops were deployed ahead of the event, further stoking anxiety among Americans and concerned observers. Rael Wienburg, a photographer and videographer in London, Ont., said he was watching a "huge moment." Biden's speech, he said, was classy. "Finally a speech by a president with a vision to help bring a divided nation together," Wienburg said. "I'm feeling very positive and emotional after a tumultuous year of horrific and unfortunate times." For Jane and David Schlosberg, the inauguration was a moment of cautious optimism. “You try not to be cynical and look forward to a better time,” Jane Schlosberg said as she watched the ceremony in Dartmouth, N.S. In Owen Sound, Ont., Sergei Lozowski listened to the ceremony via radio. "I want to hear official word that the leadership of our closest ally is not a deranged reality TV personality," he said. Others across Canada watched the ceremony with roommates and in workplaces as they observed pandemic guidelines. Mary-Ellen Unan called it more significant than ever that citizens of North America watched the U.S. handover of power. "In a world where we are all affected by the policies of the American government, too many people still feel disenfranchised," Unan said from Toronto. "The swearing in to the highest office in the world is ceremonial but it also marks a major change for the future." -With files from Danielle Edwards in Halifax and Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2021. Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press

  • Amy Klobuchar gives stirring speech about Capitol riot as snow falls on inauguration

    Minnesota Senator says inauguration day is ‘day our democracy picks itself up, brushes off the dust, and does what America always does, goes forward as a nation’

  • President Joe Biden’s Plea for America: 'End this Uncivil War'

    Rob Carr/GettySpeaking from the West Front of the Capitol after a violent insurrection claimed five lives there on Jan. 6, President Joe Biden sought to comfort a distressed country still suffering from the strife of simultaneous national calamities.Biden’s earliest words as president offered Americans direct reassurance that the most fundamental component of the nation’s government was still intact.“This is democracy’s day,” he said, minutes after being sworn into office by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as the 46th president of the United States. “A day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve. Through a crucible for the ages America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge.”“The people,” he continued, “the will of the people, has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded. We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”Biden, 78, addressed two threats that have worsened under President Donald Trump’s administration, the unchecked coronavirus pandemic and the growing presence of terrorism at home—which only two weeks ago arrived at the very platform from which Biden spoke. Standing resolutely, his jacket pinned with a small American flag on a chilly Wednesday afternoon, the president championed the “restless, bold, optimistic” collective pursuit of restoring what has been lost.“A cry for survival comes from the planet itself,” Biden said. “A cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clear, and now arise political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.”In an acknowledgement of the still bitterly divided national political climate—which is expected to continue long after Biden’s first few days in office—he called on citizens to help de-escalate the rampant partisanship.“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” he said. “We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes as my mom would say, just for a moment, stand in their shoes.”Throughout his 20-minute address, Biden also provided a positive outlook for the nation’s future, seeking to remind viewers that, despite strife, sadness, and anger, his administration will offer a unified approach. He pledged to pen a new chapter in the “American story.”A significant part of that book includes a historic start. “Today we mark the swearing in of the first woman in American history elected to national office, Vice President Kamala Harris. Don't tell me things can’t change,” Biden said, beaming with pride for his number 2, who was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.“My whole soul is in it,” Biden said. “Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this, bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause,” he continued, to applause, listing off the “foes” he plans to combat: “Anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness.”“America is once again the leading force for good in the world,” he said.The mood ahead of Biden’s address, despite the best efforts of the U.S. Marine Corps Band’s Sousa-heavy set list, was somber. As grandees of the House and Senate leadership were introduced by an announcer over a loudspeaker, almost no applause could be heard for any of them; at the conclusion of every song, little could be heard on the lawn in front of the platform aside from the thrum of helicopters protecting the airspace.Biden Has to Clean Up the Trump Catastrophe—Then Get to WorkAnd while the evidence of the insurrection was largely removed from the exterior of the Capitol, the consequences of that day were everywhere—including on the shattered glass door that Biden used to enter the Capitol.In the hours leading up to the day’s festivities, the streets around the Capitol were largely empty of people, save for scattered law enforcement, military, and press. Gawkers from the Capitol Hill neighborhood briskly passed by the security perimeter on 1st St. NE, a block away from the Senate office buildings. On the corner of Massachusetts Ave., a Finnish journalist desperately searched for someone, anyone, to interview—and lamented that she had only found other journalists.Outside the Hart Senate Office Building, roughly 30 armed National Guardsmen patrolled an opening in the gated barbed-wire. Inside, spare supply rooms in the building’s basement had been converted into areas for them to rest. The starkness of the scene weighed on notable guests: an emotional Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) told reporters he was saddened on what is typically a bright day for the country. “It’s a military camp,” said Wolf.As guests gathered on the West Front the quiet from the reduced attendance, first due to the pandemic then to security concerns, was so stark that every time the Marine Corps band stopped playing, the only noise was the whistle of the wind. Inside the Capitol, the top four congressional leaders and their spouses waited at the East Front doors of the Capitol—the same doors that had been broken into just two weeks earlier by insurrectionists—for Biden and Harris to arrive. For a moment, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) chatted with Elaine Chao, the outgoing Transportation Secretary and wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who stood by them silently.Just after 10:30, Biden, Harris, and their entourage arrived, walking up the East Front steps and passing through the doors, the shattered glass from the attack a stark reminder of the challenges ahead.After Biden’s speech concluded, country legend Garth Brooks stepped forward to sing “Amazing Grace,” a song that Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) called both “poetry and prayer.” After singing the first verses himself, Brooks encouraged the small crowd to join him. The mood, though still somber, shifted. Members of Congress, journalists, Marine Corps officers in dress blues all joined in the hymn.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Chinese billionaire Jack Ma makes first public appearance since October in online meet with rural teachers

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