Jennifer Lawrence has confirmed she welcomed a second son earlier this year, revealing the child’s gender six months after giving birth while candidly discussing her intensified struggle with postpartum anxiety.
The 35-year-old actress disclosed the news during a recent interview with The New Yorker while promoting her upcoming film Die, My Love, a Martin Scorsese-produced adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel. The baby, reportedly named Louie based on a beaded keychain she was spotted carrying in early September alongside one bearing her firstborn’s name Cy, arrived in March with her husband, art gallery director Cooke Maroney.
Lawrence described her recent postpartum experience as significantly more challenging than what she faced after delivering her first child in February 2022. She explained that with Cy, now three years old, she felt primarily at war with the rest of the world rather than battling internal demons. This time around proved markedly different.
“I just thought every time he was sleeping, he was dead,” Lawrence told the magazine, describing the intrusive anxious thoughts that plagued her during the newborn phase. “I thought he cried because he didn’t like his life, or me, or his family. I thought I was doing everything wrong, and that I would ruin my children.”
The Academy Award winner’s vulnerability about maternal mental health reflects a growing willingness among public figures to discuss the psychological challenges that often accompany childbirth. Postpartum anxiety, while less discussed than postpartum depression, affects an estimated 10 to 15 percent of new mothers according to mental health researchers, though exact figures remain difficult to establish given underreporting.
Lawrence’s candor extended to an unexpectedly emotional moment she experienced while seeking guidance from artificial intelligence. She recalled asking ChatGPT a question about breastfeeding and receiving a supportive response that initially comforted her before triggering a different kind of anxiety.
“It told me, ‘You’re doing the most amazing thing for your baby. You’re such a loving mother,'” she said. But then a troubling thought emerged. “If a robot can say that, maybe everyone else saying it doesn’t mean it either.”
The actress, who tends to guard her personal life fiercely despite her celebrity status, has never publicly shared photographs of either child. She and Maroney, 41, married in October 2019 at Rhode Island’s Belcourt Mansion after dating for roughly a year. Their first son was named after postwar American painter Cy Twombly, one of Maroney’s favorite artists.
Lawrence acknowledged that anxiety has shaped her personality since childhood, describing herself as driven by the condition. She explained that as a kid, she would try to be good and do the right thing, attempting to manage her anxiety by avoiding upsetting God or her parents. That tendency toward perfectionism apparently persisted into motherhood, manifesting as fears about inadequacy and harmful outcomes.
The actress hasn’t shied away from discussing other aspects of her postpartum journey either. She revealed to The New Yorker that while everything bounced back physically after her first pregnancy, her second left her unhappy with changes to her body. Lawrence disclosed she’s scheduled to undergo breast augmentation surgery in November ahead of filming a nude scene for an upcoming project next spring.
When asked whether she’d pursue the procedure if she weren’t an actress, Lawrence suggested she probably would anyway, though she admitted she might not be hustling to the appointment with quite the same urgency. Her openness about cosmetic procedures extended to other topics as well.
The Hunger Games star told journalist Jia Tolentino that she gets Botox, though only enough to still use her forehead and portray characters who don’t have access to celebrity dermatology. She avoids fillers because they show on camera. When asked about facelifts, she laughed and said she hasn’t had one yet but fully intends to eventually.
Becoming a mother has profoundly influenced Lawrence’s approach to her craft, particularly in selecting which projects merit time away from her children. She described the decision-making process as binary now. Is this worth being away from my child for half the day? The answer determines whether she says yes or no.
Die, My Love represents her first maternal role since becoming a parent in real life. She explained that having children fundamentally changed everything about her existence and her work, which deals extensively with emotion. The experience opened up the world to her in ways she hadn’t anticipated, making her feel almost raw, like a blister exposed and sensitive to touch.
Lawrence was four months pregnant with her second child during filming, working opposite Robert Pattinson, who had recently become a father himself. The original script portrayed her character Grace as cruel toward the couple’s baby, but Lawrence and Pattinson reworked those dynamics to reflect something she felt was more authentic to postpartum experiences.
“Once Rob and I started doing our scenes together, I think it became more of a thing that a lot of postpartum women feel, where you’re not mad at your baby. You’re mad at your husband, who can just go to the gym,” she remarked, highlighting the gendered inequities that often accompany early parenthood.
Sources close to the couple told media outlets in April that Lawrence was settling into life as a family of four, describing her as having a great attitude despite the challenges of managing a newborn alongside a toddler. Insiders praised both Lawrence’s calm, go-with-the-flow parenting style and Maroney’s involvement as a father, noting they balance responsibilities well together.
Lawrence has spoken previously about the transformative nature of motherhood. In a 2022 Vogue interview following Cy’s birth, she described feeling like her whole life had started over, as if day one of her existence began when she became a mother. She gushed about falling in love not just with her own baby but with all babies everywhere, marveling at how newborns are simply amazing.
She also acknowledged the difficulty of discussing motherhood publicly given how vastly different the experience is for every person. That awareness hasn’t stopped her from sharing her own journey, however, perhaps recognizing that her platform allows her to normalize conversations about maternal mental health struggles that many women face but few discuss openly.
The entertainment industry has seen increased dialogue around postpartum challenges in recent years, with figures like Chrissy Teigen, Hayden Panettiere and Adele sharing their own battles with postpartum depression. Lawrence’s focus on anxiety rather than depression highlights a related but distinct condition that often goes unrecognized or untreated.
Postpartum anxiety manifests through excessive worrying, racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping even when the baby sleeps, physical symptoms like heart palpitations or nausea, and intrusive thoughts about harm coming to the infant. Lawrence’s description of constantly fearing her sleeping baby was dead exemplifies these intrusive thoughts, which can be deeply distressing for new mothers who may feel ashamed or afraid to discuss them.
Mental health professionals emphasize that postpartum anxiety, like postpartum depression, results from hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, life stress and individual vulnerability factors. It’s treatable through therapy, medication or both, though many women struggle to access care due to stigma, lack of screening or inadequate healthcare resources.
Lawrence’s willingness to discuss her experiences publicly may encourage other mothers dealing with similar challenges to seek help rather than suffering silently. Her status as one of Hollywood’s most successful actresses, someone who seemingly has every resource at her disposal, underscores that postpartum mental health struggles affect women across all circumstances and socioeconomic levels.
As Lawrence navigates motherhood while maintaining her career, she continues demonstrating the complexity of modern parenthood. Women are expected to bounce back physically, maintain professional excellence, radiate maternal joy and handle everything with grace. The reality, as Lawrence’s candid interview reveals, involves anxiety, self-doubt, physical changes that cause distress, and the constant tension between personal identity and parental responsibilities.
Her forthrightness about cosmetic procedures also challenges the pressure on mothers, particularly those in the public eye, to pretend their bodies remain unchanged by pregnancy and childbirth. While some criticized her decision to undergo breast augmentation as reinforcing unrealistic beauty standards, others appreciated her honesty about making choices that help her feel comfortable in her own skin and confident in her professional work.
The actress appears determined to balance authenticity with privacy, sharing enough of her journey to contribute meaningfully to public discourse about motherhood while protecting her children from media exposure. Neither Cy nor her younger son have appeared in photographs, and Lawrence has maintained firm boundaries around their identities despite intense public interest.
As she moves forward with her family of four, Lawrence seems clear-eyed about both the profound joys and genuine difficulties of raising young children. Her Instagram caption following El Clasico, her unwillingness to romanticize every aspect of motherhood, and her openness about seeking both medical and cosmetic interventions all suggest a pragmatic approach to navigating life as a working mother in the spotlight.
Whether discussing postpartum anxiety, breast augmentation plans or how having children changed her creative process, Lawrence continues demonstrating why she’s remained one of Hollywood’s most compelling figures. She refuses to perform perfection, instead offering glimpses of messy, complicated reality that resonates far more powerfully than carefully curated narratives ever could.
