It’s hilarious! My boyfriend David wants marriage and kids. He is absolutely definite about it. Usually men in their thirties can’t even hear the word ‘pregnancy’ without putting their hands over their ears and bursting into tears. But David says there’s nothing in the world he wants more than to have. Family with me. Even more that he wants an end to greenhouse gases. It’s lovely.
But, when he first mentioned it to me we’d only been going out for about six months so I just laughed it off. Not because I don’t want children but because I thought he was living in a bit of a dreamland. An environmental activist and an actress starting a family? It’s not exactly the most financially stable situation, is it? They can’t live on Shakespeare and compost. I just thought of that.
In response to my laughter, David then came out with all the things people usually say about having children: ‘There’s never a right time. They’re not as expensive as you think. All they need is love.’ I love David but he has a way of looking at things that although it is beautifully positive is completely unrealistic. Having a child is like having the most physically and emotionally hungry pedigree tiger. You can’t just feed it frozen pizza, give it a hug now and then and hope for the best. I mean, I don’t know other actors have children. They’re heroes. There isn’t enough room in my brain for that audition, that job, those lines, my family, my boyfriend, my dog and a baby. Nor should there need to be.
A child deserves more, surely? David has this passion for making the world a better place, I mean, who wouldn’t want his as a husband and a father? I’ve never met a man who I’ve so badly wanted to get stretch marks for but obviously not right now. Not until I’ve done everything I need to do.
[The Guardian] Josephine and I review – one-woman show goes deeper than hero-worship
[The New York Times] Review: ‘Josephine and I,’ a Tribute Show by Cush Jumbo
[Bush Theatre]
[VOGUE] “If We Are Anything, We Are Resilient”: Cush Jumbo Gets Candid About Motherhood, Playing Hamlet & The Future Of British Theatre
https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/cush-jumbo-hamlet-young-vic
[VOGUE] See Cush Jumbo’s 24-Hour Transformation into Josephine Baker
https://www.vogue.com/article/cush-jumbo-photo-diary-josephine-and-i-public-theater