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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