In a very Kat Stratford move, Julia Stiles casually revealed in a New York Times profile this week that she has a 5-month-old baby, her third child with husband Preston Cook. The couple married in 2017 and are parents to Strummer, 6, and Arlo, 2. But this time around, Stiles had no interest in sharing the news. “I didn’t really talk about it,” she told the Times, and she stuck to that sentiment, revealing nothing but the baby’s age and that she is “a bundle of emotions.”
Those emotions are driven by more than just fresh parenthood. Stiles also spoke about Wish You Were Here, her directorial debut, which she finished filming in February, explaining that motherhood was a helpful thing to have on her résumé: “I think that actually being a mom is really great training for being a director,” she said. “You have to think ten steps ahead but also be in the present moment. You have to be good at time management. You have to be sensitive to people’s needs and guide them but also hold a boundary.”
Another thing motherhood and directing have in common? Both rob you of sleep. “I am running on fumes in terms of sleep, but I feel more energized than I ever have,” the 10 Things I Hate About You star said. The film, which doesn’t yet have a release date, is based on Renee Carlino’s novel of the same name, about a woman in her 20s who seeks out a one-night stand who ghosted her, only to learn he’s terminally ill.
When Stiles and Cook married, she was pregnant with Strummer and shared a photo of her wedding-dress-clad baby bump on Instagram. Just a month earlier, she posted about having gone camping while eight months pregnant. Congrats to her on her baby, her movie, and always embodying Kat Stratford energy.