Jennifer Lawrence Was 'Hit With Fear' After Winning an Oscar: 'They’re Going To Get Sick of Me'

At the height of her career, Jennifer Lawrence was able to successfully transition between high-profile, commercial films and critically acclaimed pictures. However, she slowed down significantly in the latter part of the 2010s. In a 2017 interview for The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence threw some light on her success and how 'fear' took over her despite earning numerous accolades to her name. 

When Oprah Winfrey asked her about what an Oscar and four nominations 'come with,' Jennifer was quick to cut her off and reply, "Fear. You’re immediately hit with fear." Lawrence recalled how the previous year, she had a sudden realization: "I had been climbing and working and fighting, and I remember last year just getting hit with fear. All of a sudden it was, “They’re going to get sick of me.” That’s when all my insecurity came." While talking about such a delicate and personal subject, she added, "I’ve got more to lose, I have more people to disappoint. I don’t know how to explain it."

After the release of Dark Phoenix, Lawrence took time away from acting to focus on her life and family and, as she told Vanity Fair, reconsider the roles she selected. At the time, she confessed, "I was not pumping out the quality that I should have. I just think everybody had gotten sick of me. I’d gotten sick of me. It had just gotten to a point where I couldn’t do anything right. If I walked a red carpet, it was, ‘Why didn’t she run?’ I think that I was people-pleasing for the majority of my life."

The Hunger Games actress told the outlet at the time that she was 'grateful and excited' to become a mother but that she would want to keep her kid out of the spotlight. She added, "If I was at a dinner party, and somebody was like, 'Oh, my God, you're expecting a baby,' I wouldn't be like, 'God, I can't talk about that. Get away from me, you psycho!'. But every instinct in my body wants to protect their privacy for the rest of their lives, as much as I can."

She talked about motherhood during an interview with Vogue and claimed how she got a fresh perspective on life after giving birth to her son Cy. She said, "The morning after I gave birth, I felt like my whole life had started over. Like, now is day one of my life. I just stared. I was just so in love. I also fell in love with babies everywhere. Newborns are just so amazing. They’re these pink, swollen, fragile little survivors. Now I love all babies. Now I hear a baby crying in a restaurant and I’m like, Awwww, preciousssss."

While speaking about motherhood, Lawrence also said, "It’s so scary to talk about motherhood. Only because it’s so different for everybody. If I say, It was amazing from the start, some people will think, It wasn’t amazing for me at first, and feel bad. Fortunately, I have so many girlfriends who were honest." She further added, "You might not connect right away. You might not fall in love right away. So I felt so prepared to be forgiving."