Marion at the Oscars in 2015. Rollins-AA15/AFF/PA Images
Once a shy and anxious child, French actress Marion Cotillard tells Karen Anne Overton how she has finally found happiness through her pursuit of art, love and in her greatest role, as a mother
“It?s complicated, but I was extremely vulnerable growing up. I expected other people to behave kindly and rationally and I discovered that the world isn?t like that,? reveals a disarmingly candid Marion Cotillard. Since winning an Oscar for her heartbreaking and unforgettable performance as French singer and actress Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, the Gallic sweetheart has confronted her vulnerabilities and gone on to become one of the highest paid non-American actors in Hollywood.
Directors adore her chameleon-like mystery and audiences love her charisma and classical beauty, but the biggest secret to Cotillard?s success is her devotion to her craft ? embodying characters to the point where she cannot shake them. When it came to Piaf in particular, she became almost possessed until she realised that the spirit of the tragic chanteuse clung to her because Piaf herself was abandoned as a child and her biggest fear was being left alone. Now a mother herself to five-year-old Marcel and new daughter Louise, born in March, Cotillard has come to the conclusion that she cannot plumb the emotional depths she used to for fear of losing herself down the creative rabbit hole. ?I think you always achieve more by throwing yourself int...