Diane Kruger wanted a baby at 35, but she had ‘to wait for the right person’

porter edit kruger

Diane Kruger covers the latest issue of Porter Edit Magazine to promote her supporting role in Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, the true story of “JT LeRoy,” the fake-ass literary wunderkind. Kristen Stewart is the “real” JT LeRoy and Laura Dern has a big role too, but Diane is in there as a European movie star who wants to secure the rights to JT LeRoy’s novel. She talks about all of that, as well as giving a glimpse into her life with Norman Reedus. Porter Edit being a low-key digital fashion magazine, they didn’t press her on the nitty-gritty of her relationship, and they even helped her whitewash the whole mess. They claim that Diane only started with Reedus when her relationship with Joshua Jackson was over. Which… is not what happened. Diane also chats about motherhood in her 40s (she’s 42 now) and more – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

Celebrity culture: “Celebrities would flock to JT’s readings – they all wanted a part of this guy who seems to be so pure and ‘authentic’,” says Kruger, with an expression of slight disdain. “Celebrity culture is so ugly – or it can be, anyway – and that story really highlights that.”

She doesn’t want to share anything about her relationships post-Joshua: “I will never talk about my relationship ever again…I feel like I share enough of my life with everyone. Some things have got to stay more concealed now.”

On having a baby last year: “I didn’t think I wanted children for a long time. I was too selfish. But by the time I got to about 35, I thought, yes, I probably do want one. But then you have to wait for the right person to come along.”

Whether she’s changed her mind about marriage too: “Never say never. I would have a party. I’d like to wear a nice dress. But I’m not religious, so that aspect of marriage doesn’t mean anything to me. There’s obviously a financial security that comes with marriage, but I’m financially independent – I don’t need anyone for that.”

Moving to Paris when she was 15: “And I just kind of never came back. I saw a different world, and it was awesome. I cannot believe my Mum let me go. I credit her with everything I have in life, because if she didn’t have faith in me and trust me, there’s no way I would be where I am today. But there were no cellphones, I had no credit card, there was no chaperone, I didn’t speak any French. No, my daughter will not be doing that.”

Her model years: “It just got boring after a while. And being judged only on your physical appearance all the time seemed very redundant.”

She doesn’t get offered many English-language roles: “It’s fine, though. I think as you grow older, you learn that things come to you when you’re ready for them.” Likewise, she says, regarding motherhood. “I’m glad I waited.”

On Norman Reedus as a father: “He’s so calm, and he teaches me a lot, because he’s done it before. There’s definitely something to be said for being with someone who is doing it for the second time.”

[From Porter Edit]

“But by the time I got to about 35, I thought, yes, I probably do want one. But then you have to wait for the right person to come along…” Ouch, man. She was with Joshua for ten years, and by her own admission, she orchestrated their breakup – soon after she was seen publicly cheating on Joshua with Reedus – then she gives interviews about how “liberated” she felt after she dumped him, and how he wasn’t the “right person” to have a child with? I get that she’s speaking in this piece as a woman who had only recently given birth and she obviously adores Reedus. But she’s throwing some really petty AF shots at an ex-boyfriend who did nothing but love her for a decade.

Chanel Metiers d'Art show

Cover courtesy of Porter Edit, additional photos courtesy of WENN.

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60 Responses to “Diane Kruger wanted a baby at 35, but she had ‘to wait for the right person’”

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  1. xdanix says:

    Wow. I get that she’s super blissed out and in a very happy place in her new life, and that’s great for her. But that still seems like a really mean thing to say. She MET that “right person” (and most likely got together with him) when she was still WITH the person who was supposedly her “right person” who had loved her for 10 years. By all accounts JJ treated her extremely well and was a great partner to her.

    If he had been an awful boyfriend or cheated or anything I would feel totally differently about this, but since he was nothing but a great guy during their relationship AND has been nothing but kind and supportive towards her since their breakup, this really doesn’t seem like a very respectful way to treat him or the time they spent together.

    • tealily says:

      I mean, I guess we never know what goes on behind closed doors. Maybe he was really nasty to her or drunk all the time or just self-centered. Who knows. But there must be something that made her think he was not “dad” material. But yeah, pretty harsh to talk about in this interview.

      • Bryn says:

        Exactly. I don’t know if you can really say he did nothing but love her for ten years, obviously they had problems, Can’t fault someone for knowing what they want

      • xdanix says:

        True, totally a possibility! And if anything like that ever came out to suggest something like that was the case, then like I said I would feel totally differently about it. I’d be cheering her on! But he’s pretty much always talked about as a really kind person. And since we DON’T have any reason to suspect anything like that went on, then it just… doesn’t seem kind, to me. Like, live your new life, be super happy, I genuinely mean it when I say I’m happy for her that she seems to have found such real joy. But that doesn’t mean you have to be nasty about your past relationships/partners, you know? 10 years is a long time to spend together, and for much of that time they always talked about having found their forever person in the other. So it just doesn’t seem nice to me now that she talks about him the way she does.

      • Kerfuffle says:

        “There must have been something to make her think he’s not Dad material”

        Or you know, he doesn’t want kids. She’s talked about the fact that she didn’t want kids for a long time, it’s pretty easy to surmise that part of their compatibility at the time was the fact that he didn’t either.

    • Erinn says:

      Yeah I don’t really know what to think with this one. Nothing that we’re aware of happened to make these ‘fair’ comments from Diane (who looks stunning in that bathroom shot). I mean, maybe they argued a lot, or maybe something worse happened, but from what we’ve known nothing major was wrong with their relationship. He’s not someone who’s been described as controlling or abusive to my knowledge, so I don’t really want to assume he was either of those things.

      I think the most likely story is that their relationship was fizzling out, but they still loved each other in some way at least, and nobody felt the need to pull the plug. Maybe that fizzling out was something only Diane felt – who knows. But I think there’s a good deal of relationships that kind of just run their course but it’s easier and more appealing to stay together because there’s nothing inherently wrong and because both people are perfectly fine partners. It’s sort of settling because they have no big thing to validate the ending of a relationship.

      But again, who knows. With what we’ve heard though, it certainly comes off as incredibly callous. I could see if she was the one who was dumped, or if he’d cheated on her like you mentioned xdanix, but I suspect that if something major had happened we’d have heard about it.

      • xdanix says:

        This is how I feel too, Erinn. With everything we know about him and their relationship, these comments just seem so unkind. We don’t have any info that might make them seem understandable or, as you put it in such a great way, fair. If we did then I’d feel differently, but since we don’t, it just seems nasty. She has a great life, and that’s great for her! But she doesn’t need to put down the life and love she had with someone else for a long time first.

      • KLO says:

        I can no longer judge anyones relationship whom I have not lived in the same house with. Now that I have some experience in life, I know that sometimes emotional abuse (even severe) takes place only when the two people are alone. And everyone else around them thinks they are getting along beautifully and being great to each other. Yes, Joshua seems good on paper. But we have NO way of knowing how it actually was to be his girlfriend. his coworkers might love him but they dont have a friggin clue about what he is like at home.

    • JByrdKU says:

      I get the point people are making about Joshua Jackson, and it does seem super shady that she was with him that long and acts like it was nothing. That being said, am I the only one that things it’s short-sighted these days that she HAD to wait for the right person. I know it’s a personal choice, but wouldn’t it have been stronger say she WANTED to wait for the right person.

      Some of us aren’t concerned about that, and plenty of women these days don’t need to wait for the right person, because their financially/mentally/physically able and happy to have a child on their own? Just saying, that’s my biggest issue with her statements.

  2. OriginalLala says:

    “I didn’t think I wanted children for a long time. I was too selfish.” I understand that she is saying this about herself and her experience, but so many people say this exact thing to women who are child-free and it’s really annoying, untrue and hurtful.

    • Bryn says:

      She’s speaking for herself, no need to be hurt by it. It’s not like she said all women who remain childless are selfish

    • Erinn says:

      I understand what both OriginalLala and Bryn are saying. I mean, it’s not meant as a dig, and I’m sure she’s still talking about herself. But there’s still that little sting of an implication there. It always comes off as a little better when someone says “I wasn’t ready to reorganize my life for someone else” or something like that, I guess.

    • Millenial says:

      As a mom of two, I think *having* children is inherently selfish. Most people aren’t doing it for the greater good. I wanted children in my life — it was about my wants, my husbands wants — wanting to have a family. Now motherhood itself is often a selfless endeavor, in the sense that you are always doing work for other people, but having them at all is really one of the more self-centered decisions you ever make.

      • KLO says:

        So true @Millennial. Also, this is one of the reasons why I think that guilt-tripping your children is utter bullshit. They didnt ask to be born in the first place, and if you raised them wrong or made yourself unhappy by having them – its your own fault.

    • Sue Denim says:

      I totally agree…let every woman make their choices…and not label it either way. Being a mom can be selfish or not, it depends on intentions etc. Likewise choosing to not have children, can be generous, again depending on intentions… We all can care for others in many ways within and/or beyond parenting…

    • Ewoksays says:

      Yeah, she was just talking about herself, I hope. You could argue anything is selfish. I don’t judge people for having kids or not but for me, I am definitely not having kids because of climate change and the destruction of the biosphere. Otherwise I would have had two.

  3. mint says:

    I feel bad for Joshua. He seems like a genuine nice guy. Why did she stay with him, when she knew he was not the right one? I hate people who are afraid to leave because of comfort and then shade the other person.

    • Nancy says:

      Don’t feel too bad. Some of these dudes…and women too, can put on a nice front, but aren’t as they appear….i.e. Brad Pitt. Sometimes it’s best to say lesson learned and move on.

    • insertpunhere says:

      This is pure speculation, but I have a guess (and what good is a celebrity gossip site if we can’t speculate, amirite?):

      My theory is that he didn’t want children, and she didn’t either when they got together. Then, over time, her feelings about children changed, and that’s why he wasn’t the right guy (anymore). Someone can be the right person for a while, but then things change. Children are a non-negotiable. You can’t compromise on them.

      I’m basing this theory on my own observations of friends/family in similar circumstances, plus the fact that he doesn’t have kids. In my experience (which is clearly anecdotal and not scientific at all), if a man wants kids, he can almost always find a woman to settle down and have them. Plus, it’s been my observation that if the man wants kids, and the woman doesn’t, the woman is more likely to bend on the issue then when the situation is reversed. I say that as someone who doesn’t have children and has no interest in having any. I’ve weirdly had the opportunity to observe this particular dynamic quite frequently. Kids are a relationship ending issue.

      • Lara K says:

        This was my feeling too.
        But I guess you never know from the outside.

      • KLO says:

        Yes to all of this. My relationship with the love of my life (so far) ended because he did not want to have children (he already had children with his ex-wife) and I did want them, because I dont have any.

        I remember reading somewhere that Diane was not looking to get married again after her divorce from Guillaume Canet (who is now happily married to Marion Cotillard)
        If you are not planning on getting married it is plausible that she just had a girlfriend/boyfriend situation with Joshua that was never meant to evolve into being parents together or something like that. And then she changed her mind. It happens. Why would she have to give up being mom if that is the thing she wants?

  4. Nancy says:

    She shot ole Josh right between the eyes. She’s not talking, but that guy must have done something to really hurt or piss her off. She gave him no mercy. In her defense, he probably DID do something for her to throw that shade at him. I love Daryl btw.

    • Mia4s says:

      Or in the alternative, she might just be a gigantic bitch. 😂

      Let’s face it, there’s no conclusive evidence either way.

      • Nancy says:

        True dat. I believe the cheating rumors on his part. “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” Team Diane.

    • Rose says:

      There is two in a relationship. Diane was doing it too and Norman wasn’t the only one.

    • Kerfuffle says:

      Or she changed her mind about kids and he didn’t. But sure, your “he probably DID do something” is just as sound as actual evidence.

  5. Tw says:

    How do we know he did “nothing but love her for a decade”? As you point out, she’s made a few statements to insinuate otherwise. I broke up with a guy who friends and family thought was a “great guy” but in reality, in the relationship, he was abusive. Just saying, you never know.

    • Kate says:

      THIS! I think this interview is as close as we’ll get to information about the actual state of their relationship. Just b/c he fawned over her on the red carpet in front of cameras and we haven’t heard terror stories about him professionally doesn’t mean he was an angel in their relationship or that they just weren’t compatible. And whether or not he was the holdout on having kids or he would have had them but she knew deep down they weren’t going to last and she didn’t want to bring a child into the relationship I commend her for waiting.

      • KBeth says:

        Exactly! Why are perfect strangers so hasty to judge someone else’s relationship?
        To suggest he did “nothing but love her” for 10 years is just absurd.
        Maybe he is a great guy, maybe he’s a jackass….we don’t know for sure what transpired in that relationship.

  6. JinnyBye says:

    There were always loads of stories about Jackson sleeping with other women, to the point that pretty much everyone just assumed they had an open relationship of some sort. When they were in Vancouver it didn’t seem like they even attempted to hide it, and Jackson was seen out with other women all the time. There were pictures of him holding hands with women, kissing them etc.

    With that in mind I’m not sure why Kruger got so much heat for being seen with Reedus. By that time it was pretty obvious she and Jackson were on the rocks (they’d stopped scheduling their work so they could be together, in fact it seemed like they were purposefully trying to make sure they couldn’t be together) and even if they weren’t, he’d stepped out on her plenty.

    • Rose says:

      It’s not like Diane wasn’t doing the same as well. They did have an open relationship of sorts. They didn’t live together for most of their relationship, with them living in different cities for the majority of it. Diane even said that when they were apart they would do their own thing. I don’t recall seeing any pics of him holding hands and kissing other women.

      They both worked a lot and even though they did they always tried to see each other. It probably didn’t help though, because they spent a lot of time a part. It was probably one of those situations where they hoped to not work as much, but that never seemed to happen.
      She got heat about Reedus because it became very public and it became an emotional affair for her.

    • ivonne says:

      So, Josh is an a**hole and a liar, is that what you´re saying? Diane´s bitterness is very understandable then.

    • Jayne says:

      Josh only lived in Vancouver. Diane never did. She visited but not very much at all. As Rose said, they lived apart and she spent a lot of time in Paris. There are no pics of him holding hands with other women, kissing them etc.

      They weren’t on the rocks when she was with Reedus. They were both working, and doing their normal thing, of seeing each other when they could and supporting each other. Diane was still pushing their relationship through magazine articles. They were still together up until they broke up.

      I don’t think Diane’s bitterness has got anything to do with Josh per se. She’s in a relationship with Reedus and she has a child. All things she wanted. I think it is to do with how it all started with Reedus hanging over her head. Josh wanted kids and might have been wavering on it at the end, but it’s a mute point because she left and didn’t want to be with him anymore.

      • orla says:

        This is what Diane said about her breakup with J. Jackson:

        – “we broke up many months before we said we were broken up”

        And I believe her . They secretly broke up, lived separately, kept up appearances, many months later announced their separation.

  7. BaronSamedi says:

    Mmmmh, I have a different perspective on this: She was with a man for a long time who maybe didn’t want to have children or whom she met when she was a different person. Ten years is a long time to not change your mind about something as important as not wanting to have any children.

    I do not blame her for re-evaluating what she wanted out of HER life and deciding to make it happen. Life is short. She does not owe it to anyone but herself to be happy and fulfilled in it.

    Some commentary reads like she somehow needed to stay with Joshua for some reason. Why? Also, do we know that they had not broken up when she was out with Reedus? Just because they were seen together does not mean the relationship wasn’t already over.

    • Mel M says:

      I agree. He was right for her for ten years but something about having a child changed that. Either he didn’t want one or she didn’t want to have one with him. They were both happy with what they had before but for whatever reason this choice to have a child changed that.

  8. Bubbalouie says:

    I’d like a boy at 45, but I developed preeclampsia when pregnant with my daughter at 43, and she was delivered via c-section 9 weeks early. One of my doctors said he kill me if we tried for a second child. Lol. Too damn risky.

  9. Ashley says:

    Yikes! That was cold as ice. Maybe joshua has daddy issues,and she didn’t want to go down that road with him. Anyway,i like joshua new girlfriend she’s pretty and her body is amazing

    • Fanny says:

      Being pretty and having an amazing body is what matters in a girlfriend?

      I’ve seen pictures of him and his new girlfriend and he seems very into her. I think that’s what matters.

  10. Zapp Brannigan says:

    I feel sorry for the cucumber in all this.

    (Thanks Lainey for that mind melting blind item!)

    • Yoko_ohno says:

      Haha I was just thinking of that! Whenever she comes up all I can think of is that damn cucumber story 😂. That and Bradley Cooper in the desert are the only two where I remember the reveals…

  11. Case says:

    “…who did nothing but love her for a decade” — This is weird. Do we know that? They may have been a lovely couple but something was amiss for them to split up. Even if he’s a great guy and would make a good father, that doesn’t mean he was the right person for her to have a child with. I don’t know if he even wanted children at all. They were together for a long time. People change, and priorities change. I don’t fault her for leaving if she didn’t feel he was right for the next phase of her life.

    I have a family member who was with a guy for five or six years. He was a nice person, and I suppose you could say he did “nothing but love her.” But she wanted to get married and he didn’t. She dumped him and got married to someone better suited for her shortly after. Sometimes, that’s just how things work out.

  12. Shan says:

    I mean, I loved my ex-husband, who I was with for 8 years, but I was terribly unhappy in the marriage and I knew having children with him would be a mistake. He was a really nice guy, but he had his issues and would not have been the “right guy” for me to have a kid with. I don’t think there’s anything petty about that.

  13. ivonne says:

    – “But by the time I got to about 35, I thought, yes, I probably do want one. But then you have to wait for the right person to come along.”

    She turned 35 in summer 2011. That means that from mid 2011 Kruger & Jackson relationship was basically a lie? Shocking.

  14. Chicken says:

    That was way harsh, Tai.

  15. Dani says:

    I don’t really think it matters what happened between them, because they never made it public, so I won’t speculate, but it’s rude AF to drag someone you were with for 10 years so many times and so ruthlessly when he hasn’t said a word about you publicly. She’s making it seem like she was a prisoner and he was just this terrible, awful person. I hope he comes out and defends himself. Neither of them strike me as innocent, but something here is so wrong. Even if he was seen out with other women, clearly she was in on it because that’s how she got with Norman.

  16. Parigo says:

    I saw that Sky movie she was in with Reedus. It wasn’t very good but it was obvious they had chemistry,

    Also she was married to Guillaume Canet who is now married to Marion Cotillard. He very possibly cheated on Diane with her.

  17. Krystal J says:

    Diane can TRY and white wash this whole mess all she likes but she forgets when something goes on the internet it’s forever. She blatantly cheated with Norman and that was her soul purpose from the get go with that horrid Movie Sky. The character Diego played was suppose to be Hispanic. She cyber stalker him & got her very best friend Fabienne the director to cast him. The sick part is they also stuck Josh in the whole cheating mess. From the point of Sky her IG changed tone & it was blatantly obvious she was trying to be edgy to impress Norman. She pulled this juvenile crap until she met him in Italy for some more cheating. Which is fine Josh kicked her to the curb and she continued follow Norman around the globe & be hidden like a dirty secret. Josh went on with his life very happily.

    Norman only claimed her and this baby after she trapped him and he got paternity results. There is a reason they want to divert from the babys dob and Norman not seeming interested in pregnant Diane or baby to be. She doesn’t mention she more than likely decided Norman was “the right man” to have a child with because he was growing bored of her talentless narcissistic butt. Norman obviously didn’t want her or to have a baby with her.

    Seriously a woman who is so in love, found the right man, has a new baby and is living happily ever after wouldn’t need to throw petty shade at a man she spent a decade with.

    Closed doors or not I think it’s pretty obvious who the villain in this drama is.

    • Ewoksays says:

      Is this all verifiable? Are you an insider?

      • Joey says:

        No, they it is not verifiable and they are not an insider. This is the rhetoric of the neurotic fangirls. They all use the same boring cliches and fantasies that the obsessed fangirls created.

  18. Wally says:

    She loves to throw shade at JJ. As for Reedus, why pick a notorious womanizer, partier and drinker as your baby daddy? I suspect she “accidentally” got pregnant to trap him. They don’t appear to have a comfortable connection to me anyway. I don’t see them lasting. Reedus is used to having groupies chasing him and he likes to indulge with no strings attached. I hope they can agree to do right by the child.

    • Ewoksays says:

      Why is he so popular with women? I don’t get it, at all. He was cute and clean cut when in 20s but he looks so unkempt and unwashed all the time. No.

  19. Usedtobe says:

    I don’t for a second think that this baby was ‘planned’ in the normal sense of the word. I believe that she may have ‘planned’ it with who she may consider ‘the right person’ but I don’t believe AT ALL that he was in this for the long haul and the baby. Sorry. I just don’t.

  20. Sara M says:

    Bottom line:

    If Kruger was really as happy and in love as she so desperately wants people to believe, there would be no need for excessive papping, tabloid articles and throwing shade at her ex. She’d just being living and loving not trying so hard to sell the happy ending. 🙄

  21. Beer&Crumpets says:

    Jesus, I dont even care about any of these people but she straight shit all over her ex- that’s how it came across to me. SOn the future, if asked about Jackson, she should just cut right to it and say “oh, fuck that guy anyway”. At least it’s more succinct that way.

    Wtf is her problem with him, I wonder. She’s either cold as ice and a fucking savage or he pulled some shit only the 2 of them know about and she’s getting a little payback- that’s what I think.

  22. Sandrine says:

    Can’t stand this Woman! Diane Kruger is actively the most boring White Actress working. Why Hollywood still hires her is foreign to many? She cannot carry a movie to save her life. She isn’t the worst actress but she is no shining bright star either. Very generic, bland & boring. Now Norman Reedus has fallen for her? Really? We don’t know much about him except he is an actor also and is in the Walking Dead. Maybe he drinks alot sure looks like it. She must make men feel sorry for her on the regular, a pity-party where she plays the damsel in distress and these men who love to rescue women find her needy and can play the part of hero. Idk nothing seems calm and normal with her. Diane looks cold and miserable or maybe it’s a German thing.

  23. Betty D says:

    JJ actually gave her a wonderful compliment on her Cannes win even after her obvious infidelity and their break up. He’s never thrown shade or been unkind. This makes me think Josh was happy to be rid of her. Diane on the other hand seems to be very bitter and can’t seem to let go.

    • Julie says:

      Yep, and he dated Katie Holmes years ago and they seemed to have remained friends. I mean, I guess you never know what someone is like but this situation is quite weird. He doesn’t seem like a jerk. Like maybe the relationship just ended? How did Diane talk about Guillame Canet when they broke up? Is this unique or part of a pattern?