Sienna Miller covers the October issue of British Vogue, and this cover is too gorgeous for words. Sienna’s one of those people who can always wear red lipstick and get away with it without looking garish. She was photographed by Mario Testino, and this is her sixth cover for the magazine. Not quite Kate Moss territory, but getting there and not too shabby for an actress that people seem to root against. Not that Sienna didn’t ask for it with that Balthazar Getty display of grossness, but that was years ago. She’s a different person now.
I’m not sure whether this cover was meant to promote the Black Mass supporting role that disappeared into the ether. She’s also starring in that weird Bradley Cooper movie, Burnt, where he plays an intense chef. (Of course he does, that’s the BCoop way.) Sienna uses this interview to talk about how exhausted she is while “running herself ragged” as a mom:
On motherhood: “Obviously when you have a baby it’s the most incredible experience but your life is also catapulted into this chaos and you are exhausted. I could literally get on this table and fall asleep. I’d like to be better at managing things; I’d like to be more super – although we’re never going to feel it, even if we are. That’s the curse of motherhood – we just run ourselves ragged. I’m just trying to get a sense of what that guilt is. I sometimes feel like it’s a totally invented emotion. It’s strange to be punishing ourselves this way. It’s not healthy.”
Her own mom and sister: “I’m really close to them, they are hugely important and influential women in my life, but of course we drive each other nuts as well!”
She’s too busy to shop: “I don’t remember the last time I went shopping. I swear to God, I wear jeans and trainers and a T-shirt most days.”
[From Vogue UK]
There’s a question of whether Sienna’s using motherhood to soften up her image, but I don’t see the point in that complaint. She is a mother, and now she’s a mother who will be dividing time with a father (Tom Sturridge). That makes things even tougher, time and energy wise, although I don’t think she and Tom spent much time together in the past year at all. Anyway, I will always root for Sienna. She’s a bloody mess and her own worst enemy at times, but she reminds me of the Rayanne Graff character from My So-Called Life. Hey, the real-life Rayanne, A.J. Langer, is now a countess, so there’s hope for everyone. I hope Sienna ends up getting some sleep because motherhood (working or stay-at-home) is a serious drainer.
Sienna also did a behind-the-scenes video called “Love Letter to England.”
Photos courtesy of Mario Testino/Vogue & WENN
The title makes it seem like she is calling motherhood the curse, when she is actually saying exhaustion is the curse of motherhood. I think they mean different things.
I agree that the title is misleading.
Agreed, I though the headline was deliberately misleading to be more provocative. Although I’m not sure I’m on board with what she’s trying to say — that moms push themselves too hard? I don’t think that’s necessarily true — it IS exhausting to be a mom of young kids, no way to really get around that.
Her daughter is lovely.
Her left foot makes me extremely uncomfortable in the second pic.
Yeah. Holy double-jointedness, Batman!
Really? That’s what my feet do. (Maybe that’s part of the reason my ankles don’t stand up well to high heels… hmm….)
I’ve always had a soft spot for her. And she can act. I think she’s been given a hard time by the press over the years – a lot of it pure sexism – but I think you’re right: she’s her own worst enemy. Rayanne!
I like Sienna and have always enjoyed her in movies. I loved her Vogue video where they do that tongue-in-cheek video where she swears she’s normal like you and me. She was funny. It looked like a comfy home. Her kitchen had stuff on every counter. Dare I say, it was a cluttered kitchen from what I remember.
She’s in High-Rise too.
Cover is very Christmas-sy for autumn.
Does her daughter have dark eyes?
Genetics is never not interesting – as both Sienna and Tom have blue eyes.
She’s had very dark blue eyes in every picture I’ve seen of her. Not brown.
Very possible.
The darkness/opaqueness is still interesting to me, cause of her parents. Sienna has standard blue, while Tom’s eyes are practically aquamarine.
Cross genetics is a thing.
I’m interested in this- I have green eyes but both my parents have blue eyes, is that unusual? Plus they both have very dark hair and I am blond.
The “curse” she speaks of is never feeling you have enough time or have done enough as a mother, not motherhood itself. That caption is misleading.
That said, she’s not wrong. Most mothers second-guess themselves constantly; always feeling guilty about one thing or another. Love my kid dearly, but I’m always afraid I’m doing something “wrong” that will damage him irreparably.
Fatherhood is tiring too.
I saw the trailer for Burnt with Cooper. It looked good. What exactly is supposed to be “weird” about it?
Didn’t he already play Anthony Bourdain in that TV show a couple of years ago?
Yes–Kitchen Conidential. But I think it was based on AB not that he played him. But it was a while ago.
Her daughter wearing that princess costume reminds me of my little brother (and I suppose my entire childhood)…..when he was ages four to about seven, he would wear his superman costume (and then eventually just the cape) EVERYWHERE. We have so many pictures of him in that costume. And the only time he’d take it off is if he had to take a bath or we went to church. My twin brother also tried to squeeze into his spiderman costume until he had like five inches of his ankles hanging out…….
Oh my god I love her for saying this!
Farken hell I have two teens and a 10 month old. I am tired, man, like seriously freaking exhausted. And teenagers suck. They just do.
Older one (15) is addicted to junk food and World of Warcraft. Wakes up late every single morning and runs off late to school, muttering darkly.
Younger one (14) is a weed smoker, shifty as all f*ck and wags school at every opportunity. I feel like sending them both to boarding school because they are intolerable.
Baby is the most delightful, gurgling, twinkly eyed human to ever walk the planet but then I feel guilty for wanting to hang out with him all the time and not with the gruesome teens.
Motherhood – it ain’t what it’s cracked up to be!
Hang in there! They get better, they really do. Thought I’d run away from home at one point, my teens were so bad. Then they enter their 20s and damn … all your hard work pays off. Don’t know what I’d do without them these days. My favorite people on Earth:)
You gorgeous thing. Thank god for that because my two are truly hideous.
Oh I so agree. Have an 18 yo who was sullen and snappy growing up and still is, & a sweet lil toddler. I know she’ll be a teen someday : (
Exhausting is right. My eye bags have eye bags.
I’m feelin’ ya, Snowpea! Physical exhaustion with the little ones and emotional exhaustion with the teens and early adulthood! Come on, frontal lobe growth!!! I seriously envy parents of 9-10 year olds. Those were the salad days…sigh……
I love you for being so honest, Snowpea (and others). I don’t have kids, but always thought that if I adopted any, that I would go with teens. Yeah, I know, yikes. But I had a terrible youth so at least I’d be able to relate (and maybe them to me) and I thought that I could give them a loving home so that they would have the experience of having a “forever home” instead of being shunted from one foster family to the next.
Not sure if I will ever do this since I would definitely want a husband/partner if I am to raise children and who knows if I will ever meet someone that I would want to share my life with, but hopefully someday…
Boston, you’d probably do great, as an adopted teen would not be cursed by “privilege”, and thus wouldn’t take you for granted. Bless your heart for even considering it!
Snowpea, I hear you. I’ve got a pack that drive me nuts a large part of the time. Coming to this site helps maintain my sanity. This is the most adult conversation I get most days. 🙁
I can relate… I used to be addicted to World of Warcraft… hopefully it won’t affect his schoolwork too much!
Oh, Snowpea, you made me laugh so hard. Hang in with gruesome teens – from what I have seen from my friends’ kids, they turn back into humans soon. Give little twinkly eyes a kiss from Auntie GNAT.
Awww thanks Aunty GNAT he he
Looks like I’m not alone with the crazy kids caper 😉
The cover is lovely. As for Sienna, I still don’t like her. I can forgive her youthful antics on the basis of immaturity, but the complaining about how tired she is.. not so much. When she isn’t filming, what does she do? And I bet anything that she does have help. As someone who has parented both with help and without, let me tell you, it makes a huge difference. I doubt she comes home from a long day and has to simultaneously read Dr. Seuss, throw in laundry, start dinner, pay bills and try to book doctor appointments before even taking off her suit jacket.
Not saying motherhood isn’t hard and exhausting – it is, no matter how much you love your child, and the shift in priorities is huge…but the wealthy have a lot less to complain than regular working stiffs (or SAHM).
Her kid is kicking ass in that dress!! I wonder if she needs a nanny…
She tells the truth. I wish more women would speak up about just how much work raising children is, and that we need help doing it so that we can keep our own identity and our own interests going at the same time. And there always guilt there when you take time for yourself, even if you just spent hours on your child.
There are some women who seem to be able to handle it all but I did feel exhausted all the time when my kids were babies.
And then I read something like – infants sleep 17 hours a day so they don’t need much looking after . And I go – really? This is not what I remember.
That brings to mind the recent controversy with Marissa Mayer who plans to go back to work after 2 weeks and she is having twins!
Americans have no respect for motherhood. This is probably I am too touchy about the subject.
Really? Must we drag “Americans” into this? I was on board with you until then.
Yes we must, because they are the only ones without maternity leave in this day and age it is barbaric.
And shows how much worth they put into the motherhood. They have “let them cake” attitude and I can’t ignore it. The fact that maternity leave is not even for any kind of a discussion in any political circuit in the US also speaks for itself. (Trying keep the rant to the minimum here and not insult too many people).
I don’t think you should mistake the policies of the government or companies or politicians for “Americans.” The women and men I know make many concessions and changes and try as hard as possible to be home with their children for as long and as much as possible. Would I love a year’s PAID maternity leave? Or 6 months? Obviously – yes, I would. But that isn’t happening (I personally get 6 weeks paid on short term disability, plus 6 weeks unpaid), so we do what we can to make it work.
> I don’t think you should mistake the policies of the government or companies or politicians for “Americans
The fact that maternity leave is not even up for a discussion and is never brought up anywhere, not even in the most liberal media does mean that it is not priority to most of the Americans.
I live in the US, I clearly see the difference in attitudes.
But more importantly what it does to the society.
Poor mothers can’t work and are stuck in the never ending cycle of poverty.
Even the rich ones can’t deal with it , and quit work to stay at home AFTER spending up to 20 years an a million dollars on education. None of it makes sense, and the fact that they graduated from elite colleges with hard degrees seems to imply that they didn’t intend to end up being stay at home mothers, but the society made them. it is such a waste.
If that’s how you feel about Marissa, you’ll positively HATE Rachida Dati, former justice minister of France, who went back to work 5 days after her cesarean.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1107705/Just-days-giving-birth-French-justice-minister-work–glamorous-ever.html
@LAK, the woman clearly has issues based on the DM article and yes, I didn’t take liking to her.
But I hope she didn’t build herself the private nursery so that she can have her child at work like Marissa did while everybody else is left to fend for themselves? That is the “let them eat cake” attitude, I am talking about.
“Americans have no respect for motherhood.” I am so sick to death of Europeans coming onto this site and slagging off on us under the guise of commenting on celebrities. Corporations have a lot of power in this country and they are the ones who give the benefits as they see fit.
> I am so sick to death of Europeans coming onto this site and slagging off on us under the guise of commenting on celebrities.
I live in the US, this is why I care. If I lived in Europe why would I care?
And yes, I am going to be slagging of the fellow Americans for the cruel treatment of mothers.
oh, I can kind of get behind that. *Capitalism* has no respect for motherhood and among all of the advanced economies, Americans are uniquely capitalist. I don’t think it’s wildly misplaced to look at the American workplace and draw the conclusion that Americans are lacking respect for motherhood…
I’m not particularly impressed with Marissa Mayer.
I recognize that being American means taking on a lot of criticism from the world because of the US’s high profile role in many arenas but let’s not be overly sensitive. Policies in the American workplace deserve it.
Americans have no respect for motherhood – what? Americans sanctify motherhood like no other. But policywise, Americans sanctify work/money even more.
> sanctify motherhood like no other.
Empty lip-service just like work-life balance.
What they sanctify is so called “family values”, i.e. having paternalistic control of women by any other name. Their “family values” mean no right to abortion, and even contraception in extreme cases, and having women at home instead of working and pursuing their interests.
Beautiful child. We CAN see her face? I thought her parents didn’t want it.
Marlowe is adorable and the image of her father. As for Sienna, still a passable actress regardless of how they are trying to shove her in our faces as a changed/mature woman/actress. And I don’t think her ‘comeback’ is on track – she still has a lot to prove if she wants those lead roles.
Sienna is her own worst enemy and I hope for Marlowe’s sake she doesn’t screw it up again. Thou i still think there will be gossip around her and Affleck – she’s still that ultimate user we all know and love.
I’m not sure if it’s excessive photoshop, but she looks like January Jones on the cover, and Elizabeth Banks on the couch.
I thought she was talking about a toddler… Then I saw her daughter. I’m not a mother, but I guess a child at this age isn’t so tiresome, right? Well, I’m not a mother, as I said.
Not to be negative but… how is she still relevant enough for a Vogue cover?
Right? The media made it seem like she was having some big comeback, but in all of the movies that she wasn’t cut out of she’s just playing wives/girlfriends for 10 minutes.
Lovely photoshoot, she looks amazing in the second photo as well!
Sienna. I don’t know, I’ve always liked her as an actress. I do root for her sloppiness to get herself together. She seems like she was seriously lost in her twenties, and looking for love from a man in all the wrong places. But heres hoping. I never understand the nastiness she gets because she was never a bad person, just really self destructive.
well her carelessness hurt others, I’d say.
I don’t know. Honestly, my kid–at 21 months–is not a ton of work. It’s relative, really. I tell my husband (who doesn’t live with us) all the time that if I were just looking after our child and not writing a dissertation/teaching, things would be pretty easy. I guess Sienna is in that boat, though, as she has a demanding career. But she also has some measure of control over her schedule, which is something of a privilege. And ample means. So you lose some, you win some.
I get the feeling her life was complete chaos before she had a kid, so coming to grips with some semblance of structure is really a challenge for her. Having to be up and focused on your child probably does feel like ‘running ragged’ to her (I’m the second of eight children so I’m a little less blown away by a single child).
those pictures look nothing like her. awful.
If the color beige became a person, it would be sienna Miller. She’s just so blah to me.
Also I’m convinced that she was fired from the movie for stealing Johnny Depp’s scarves
I actually think Sienna is underrated as an actress and I’m glad she’s getting her sh*t together. People quickly forgave Jude Law’s antics, but hers were thrown at her over and over again years later. This Ben Affleck film though is going to get her back in the tabs.
“Jeans and a tee shirt” my arse, she is always fashion-y looking, well put together. She is trying to sell herself as a Jennifer Garner type, her “baby” is a small child, which yes obv. still hard work but she speaks almost as if motherhood is completely brand new. I think Tom did most of the work – he was pictured with the baby far more often w/out Sienna than vice versa, and now she is having to do her fair share she is hurting/whining about it when she probably has a nanny.
What movie has she been in that has made her so famous? I would have no idea who she was if I didn’t check this site. Although she can definitel work a red lip!
It’s not her acting that made her famous, it’s her clothes and boyfriends. I don’t care about her one way or the other, but that’s why she’s famous.
Huge CV but she’s never had that star quality in film that would bump her up to better roles.
I LOVE her! I’ve always enjoyed her acting, and she’s absolutely gorgeous. She was hilarious on Keen Eddie, a TV series I freaking LOVED. All the best to Sienna Miller. She’s great!