Diane Kruger is promoting The 355, the film Jessica Chastain put together about lady spies from different countries, all coming together to work on some mysterious spy thing. Kruger plays the German spy and they began filming it when she was six months postpartum. She gave birth to her daughter (whose name we will never know) in November 2018, and Kruger started filming The 355 in the summer of 2019. Just in case you’re wondering about the timeline! Kruger spoke about her postpartum body, motherhood and more with Women’s Health. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Preparing her body for stunts post-partum: “It was daunting. But after six months of being a full-time mom, I was ready to get back to me, and to get out of the house. It was fun to have a few hours away each day to focus on my body and my work. It was exhilarating to go back to working out—to lifting heavy, kicking higher, and trusting my body.”
She worked out while pregnant too: Throughout her pregnancy, she worked out for 30 minutes a day, walking, doing the elliptical, or performing a squat routine with five-pound weights.
She relates to her German spy character: “I think I innately strive to do things well and properly and follow through. And when I was younger, I was certainly very guarded; I think that’s part of our [German] culture.”
She hates running: “I really hate running. I like to walk—I live in New York. We walk everywhere.”
Working with an all-lady cast: “It felt great to work with girls, and there was no weirdness on-set. Jessica made sure all of the actresses were paid the same; we all own a piece of the movie. Regardless of how the film does, it was one of the most complete experiences. Being able to be heard and valued is so important—not just in what I do, but everywhere. One thing that was wonderful about this film was that many of us were mothers. We were allowed to bring our children to set and had a trailer for the kids. That was a lovely thing, where you can sense that the producer is a woman with a child.”
Motherhood changes everything: “Everything changed with motherhood—it’s such a cliché, but it’s true. The way I look at work is different. I love to work; in fact, I cherish it more today than I did before, but at the same time, you look at everything from a different angle. It’s not: What’s it going to do for my career? It’s more about: Could it fit into my schedule? How can I make it work? Is it going to be worthwhile?”
Mom-brain: “I always feel tense, like I’m forgetting 5,000 things a day. I often feel like I don’t take enough time to stop for a second and take care of me, so I’m trying to get better about that.” When she can, she gets a massage or a foot rub. After she became a mother, there was also a period when no matter how much she (hypothetically) slept, she “always looked tired.” So she started taking vegan multivitamins, which she says help her feel less depleted.
Her current workouts: In her current weekly gym routine, she does the elliptical, burpees, box jumps, situps, planks, and 20-pound squats. “It’s the moments when I don’t have to talk to anyone that help me the most. I’m a little socially awkward; I’m not good at schmoozing with people, so I’ve always looked for moments to be by myself. I was naturally skinny when I was younger, and I did a lot of ballet and ballroom dancing, so I didn’t work out traditionally. But by the time I hit about 32, I felt my metabolism change. That’s when I thought I needed to work out to be able to eat what I wanted—and I dreaded it.”
While I have my issues with Kruger, I kind of like her straight-forward German energy in this interview. There’s a lack of coyness about her body and her life which I like. It’s very real – metabolisms change, she cared about staying active during her pregnancy, it was tough for her to start back after she gave birth, all of it. I also hate running! Running sucks. Walking is where it’s at. This just reminds me of something else though – women who spent their childhoods in dance or ballet really have a (proverbial) leg up as adults. They’ll always have that dancer’s muscle memory. I was a gymnast as a kid and I have no muscle memory of that!
Cover & IG courtesy of Women’s Health.
I love all the clothes in this shoot. Not all of them seem like workout clothes, but I want all of them. She has beautiful legs too!
I can relate to so much in this interview, especially the working mum stuff.
She looks really great. I’ve read articles that say European moms take care of themselves and don’t deny themselves help when available, but American moms pride themselves on doing it all by themselves. I liked her comments about working post baby. I would have loved to work part time when my kids were young. It would have been liberating. Unfortunately, with childcare costs, it was cheaper to stay home.
You have to keep exercise as part of your routine after a certain age because getting back into it after a break is tremendously difficult. Since having my second child, exercises that involve jumping up and down simply aren’t an option.
Dislike her for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on…🤔
But agree with walking (instead of running) as a great way of exercising.
@Eve, I know what you mean. For me I think it stems from Troy (which is not a great movie overall I know) when I started avoiding anything she is in. I don’t have anything against her per se, or Elizabeth Olsen who I also avoid, just grating for some reason. But, also, yes, to walking! Which I’m avoiding today due to cougar sightings. I don’t want to be a to-go meal.
I strongly dislike her, maybe irrationally so. I just think she is so monotonous, I hate listening to her, which makes me dislike her acting in general. I also think she’s kind of generic looking. Another thin, blond white woman. I just find her boring tbh.
I wish Hollywood would give more interesting actresses a chance.
It was 43 that changed everything for me. I have this picture on my 43rd birthday that reminds me if why people always thought I was significantly younger than my age. And then despite regular exercise (walking everywhere which was the only exercise I ever needed up to that point) the weight gain started and I didn’t take it seriously. I figured I could drop the weight easily any time. But following the pandemic my fitness levels are nil. Now I’m dieting, doing Pilates, giving up drinking … and it’s an absolute struggle every day. My advice to anyone younger is find the fitness routine that works for you and don’t give it up, even when the planet shuts down for a full year in a pandemic. 😒
I just turned 40 and I’m still the weight I was at 25 ( obviously having gained and lost between babies), which has been my baseline for so long I kind of don’t even think about it. I can always just get back there if I need to but I feel like I’m just waiting for that last metabolism shoe to drop any day now, where it’s no longer fairly straight forward and I won’t be able to just go back to getting in shape with the same routines that have always been worked for me.
I was the same as you but as soon as I turned 42 everything changed. My advice is to get your exercise and diet in place before it happens because once it does it doesn’t matter how hard you work, you can’t go back
She’s so straightforward and real about all these topics. I absolutely fell in love with her watching her interview with Stephen Colbert. She was charming, funny, great with accents (her French one is amazing!), and she’s great at improv! If you have a sec, check it out.
I always thought her fashion was… different. She takes chances and doesn’t just do vanilla which is nice. Sometimes it’s a miss but that makes her interesting. She’s a super beautiful woman but for some reason, I always think her hair looks terrible. It always looks stringy and it doesn’t have the right shape. I really dig her, though. Seems like she would be a ton of fun to hang out with. I really hope The 355 is a hit. I love Jessica Chastain and wish her much success!
Love those purple pants. And I’m with ya…walking is great and I can do it for hours. Running? Not fun, and my stamina isn’t there.
I agree with her, running sucks. I love to walk but I can’t stand running. I do jump rope as my at-home routine because it works out a lot of different areas at once and it doesn’t bore me. She looks amazing.
I think this is the most I’ve ever liked her, full stop. Very straightforward and real.
I think most of us didn’t like her bc of what happened with Joshua Jackson. 🤔
I don’t like her because of what she did after she broke up with Joshua Jackson. She would make shady and petty remarks about Joshua and their relationship, as if she were the victim. And after he met Jodie, anytime Jodie would post something about Joshua, Diane would make a mocking statement that made it clear she was stalking Jodie’s Instagram. She strikes me as one of those people that doesn’t want a person, but doesn’t want anybody to have that person either.
What a great cover photo! Really highlights her great gams.
I wish I had her legs!
I did gymnastics too, from age 3 to 16, and after I stopped i started doing aerobic weight training pretty regularly, and for me personally, I’ve found that having been so active growing up, I bounce back VERY quickly. However, Im entering my later 30s, and im starting to notice some thickening of my waist. I’ve actually been considering lipo or cool touch on my waist, but now im scared of cool touch aftee hearing Linda Evangalista’s horror story. I suppose i could work out more, I don’t even work out per se currently, but I live in hilly, hilly San Francisco, and I walk EVERYWHERE. Any time I leave my apartment, I am guaranteed a steep uphill walk there or back, often carrying groceries and stuff. Plus I live on the 3rd floor and even though my building has an elevator, I usually force myself to take the stairs. So if I’m feeling like I don’t exercise enough, sometimes I’ll just multiply how many times I went out by 3, and that is how many flights of stairs I walked up that day. And I feel better.
She’s so full of it! Can’t stand her.
I’ll always think of her as Guillaume Canet’s first wife (now partnered up with Marion Cotillard).
If the way your metabolism changed at 32 was a shock, just wait until 45, it’s going to blow your mind (and your butt, tummy & thighs!)
She’s 45 now…