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The other day, we talked about how Chris Carter had to fight to cast Gillian Anderson as Agent Scully in The X-Files because the network didn’t find her sexy enough. That still makes me shake my damn head. Gillian’s early days on the show weren’t easy for her, especially after she got pregnant in the middle of Season 1. It got into her head and played a big part in her plans after giving birth to her daughter, Piper Maru, early in the second season. The cover was that Scully was abducted in the episode “Ascension” and returned two episodes later in “One Breath.” The total time that Gillian took off after her C-section was just 10 days! During an appearance on the Today show to promote Scoop, Savannah Guthrie asked her about that decision. Gillian responded that she went back to work so quickly because she felt guilty for having a baby in the first place and wished she had taken better care of herself.
“Ten days after you give birth — by C-section, I might add — you were back at work,” TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie said during an April 3 interview with Anderson. “How do you feel about that now?” Savannah asked.
“I think if I didn’t feel so guilty that I got pregnant in the first season, that I might have taken better care of myself and been more thoughtful about what I needed,” Anderson, 55, replied. “But I think I was so wrapped up in, ‘I almost got fired, I messed up, I’ll do whatever they say.’ So, yeah, 10 days after a C-section.”
C-sections are major surgeries, recovery usually takes six to eight weeks. It’s not uncommon for C-section patients to experience symptoms including incisional pain, uterine contractions and hormone changes.
Anderson shares Piper, 29, with ex-husband Clyde Klotz. The Emmy-winning actor is also mom of sons Oscar, 17, and Felix, 15, with former partner Mark Griffiths. When Anderson was pregnant with Felix, she said was taking care of herself.
“Poor Piper lived in my trailer for the first nine years of her life,” Anderson said during a conversation with People in 2008. “So now, to be able to make the choice not to work at the end of my last pregnancy — because I worked right up to the end of Piper’s — and not to work for the first six months after having Oscar was quite wonderful.”
As a woman who has taken maternity leave twice, feeling badly about it the first time but not so much the second time, I truly feel for Gillian here and the position she was in. It should be such an easy decision, but it’s so difficult nonetheless. There are so many different factors involved and the US has a terrible attitude about maternity leave for all women, no matter what position they hold. Remember when former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer only took two weeks maternity leave after giving birth to twins? That woman had means and resources, but still felt pressured to return to work as soon as possible.
If you’re lucky enough to qualify for FMLA, a lot of US companies won’t pay for the full 12 weeks. All that does is protect your job and health benefits during that time period. Instead, employers can either force you to apply for short-term disability or take vacation pay/PTO. And then you have to hope they won’t punish you for taking time off after you get back, which absolutely happens. It can be so stressful. I know that not everyone gets as lucky as Gillian did, being able to enjoy six months of maternity leave with her second child, but I’m happy for her that she was in a position to feel comfortable doing that. Also, OMG, I cannot believe that Piper is 29-years-old! There are some photos of her here and she looks a lot like her mom.
Photos credit: Justin Ng / Avalon, James Shaw/Photoshot / Avalon, Getty
Where I am from we, by law, get 3 months maternity leave, fathers get 5 weeks, and parents get to share about 7 months – so mom can take it or dad could have it or they can share part of it. I cant imagine going back after 10 days, those employers were fckn savage trash to have no consideration for her. But I understand her predicament. Poor gill and poor baby
In my country we get 5 months for the mother or 4 months for the mother + 1 for the father…
And it’s a poor country,,,
In Croatia, we get at least 1 year parental oeave: 90 days HAS to be taken by mom, but then dad can take over for the remainder, or they can share it however they want. The father gets 2 additional months.
If you habe 3 kids, you get 3 years of leave.
Or, after first 6months of parental leave, you can choose to return to work part-time for double the duration of parental leave, with the state paying for the other 50% of your salary. Oh, amd that other part of parental leave? You can use it up until your kid is 8. 😉
Still, I think it’s also a big deal that while pregnant, all of the primary health care and tests and all of prenatal care is free+if there are any complications, doctors will prescribe you “complications in pregnancy leave” where the state is paying you 70 % of your salary.
I temped for a company that didn’t allow women to add their vacation time to their maternity leave if they wanted to take more than twelve weeks. They also only allowed people three days off if they donated bone marrow.
The attitudes towards post-partum life, i.e. mom should just be able to do it all, are atrocious.
I hope I’m on good enough terms with the next generation to pitch in with that work on a meaningful level and then she can have it better.
The sad thing is that she wasn’t wrong then and the same situation could easily play out again today. Gillian Anderson was the best part of The X-Files. I love the recent CB posts featuring her.
I remember reading about the BTS or seeing interviews with Duchovny and or Carter, some of the other male writers (iirc that writers room was entirely men) it was such a gross boys’ club and I think the production gave her a very hard time and othered her because she was a woman and young (including letting her know she wasn’t the network’s choice because of reasons)
Not surprising her feelings around having her first child were guilt and obligation, like she was out of line for inconveniencing them by having a life.
I love your last sentence. I heard a comment from my colleagues about our team member becoming pregnant “at such a demanding time for the team”. All had no kids. I wanted to laugh in their faces – a company should dictate her life choices? Like the company would be loyal to her?
FMLA isn’t paid leave. It’s leave for medical reasons that gives reasonable protections regarding returning to your job.
You pay yourself using your PTO.
In Canada, we get 9months of paid leave or ( 70%/65% pay) and then if you want to take a full year, the remaining 4 months is unpaid. Then the Father also gets 5 weeks leave separately but if the father doesn’t take this leave, the family loses the leave period reserved just for the father… AMEN
@wendy maybe something confusing about what you’ve written for Canada you don’t get a percentage of your pay from the federal government, you get a percentage of the benefit. Standard benefit is around $660 per week maximum, and extended (for spreading the leave out over up to an 18 month period) is less than that.
Some larger corporate and institutional employers will offer top ups of the benefits but that’s based on the company / organization.
Depends where you are in Canada, in Quebec you can get 12 months and larger companies often co-pay so you don’t lose too much salary overall
that is just barbaric. i cant imagine having to be away from my baby that quickly and i would not have been able to function in any meaningful away. surely the returning woman is just so unpreductive that its pointless?
i had 10 months off for each of my maternity leaves, 6 months on full pay and 4 months unpaid. for the 6 months you are entited to state pay but most employers choose to top it up. you also then get your accrued bank holidays and annual leave
Barbaric is the right word. I cannot comprehend how am this is still possible in any developed country. A year is minimum. Studies show that mother’s body/hormones go back to normal after two (!) years! I went back after 1,5year and was struggling with sleep deprivation, exhaustion, brain fog and couldn’t perform like I used to. It got better after my daughter turned 2. After 10
days you are bleeding, recovering, your boobs are full of milk, you have a scar between your legs or on your stomach, it’s like telling a person after major surgery that they should gather themselves and go back to work. Oh, and keep a tiny human alive as well.
Exactly this. Ladies in the US you need to lobby for change!! This is nowhere normal in other countries.
Sad. Also that terrible alien baby story line spoiled so much of the later seasons. Did a rewatch before the awful new seasons and it was so clear that Anderson, not Duchovny, was the engine that made the series work. Probably why there was so much dumping on Anderson at the time. But lots of handsome but wacky guys out there, not as many women who look like the stepped out of a painting who can take the outlandish dialogue of that show seriously and make us believe in it.
All hail Gillian! I wanted her hair so bad but I could never get a side part to stay out of my face.
We get 12-18 months of mat leave where I live, and I don’t feel guilty about taking a year off after giving birth at all. I could have taken 18 months or quit my job, but I missed working and not being stuck at home. 10 days is just insane to me.
I remember my old boss telling me that when she had her first baby in the late 60s, she had her on a Friday and was back at work on Monday. And her mother in law took care of her baby. Insane.
My mother said the same thing. That once she got engaged her career was over. They figured she’s getting married and then having children. No maternity leave no guaranteed job nothing. This was the early 1960s New York City. Also she had a professional position at the time with the college education and that’s how