Jodie Turner-Smith chats pandemic parenthood, ‘goddess-level’ feminism, and portraying Anne Boleyn

Queen & Slim star Jodie Turner-Smith discussed pandemic parenthood, ‘goddess-level’ feminism, and portraying Anne Boleyn in her January digital cover story for ELLE.

Stylist Ola Ebiti dressed the British-born, American-educated 34-year-old in patterned pieces from the upcoming The North Face x Gucci, glamp-friendly collaboration.

Jodie fronts Gucci’s fragrance Bloom and she’s been a brand ambassador for the Italian luxury fashion house since 2019.  

Turner-Smith has been ‘converted to the outdoor lifestyle’ thanks to her husband of 17 months – Little Fires Everywhere actor Joshua Jackson – who grew up in Vancouver.

Last April, the University of Pittsburgh grad and the 42-year-old SAG Award nominee welcomed their first child – daughter Janie – right as the coronavirus was shutting everything down.

‘Navigating parenthood at any time is difficult. And it’s even more difficult without support, when everything is shut down and you can’t really see other people or go anywhere,’ Jodie lamented.

‘[At least] I’m not having to sit on Zoom with her and suddenly become her educator as well as her caretaker.’  

Turner-Smith gushed that Joshua was her ‘biggest supporter and brain trust,’ and the couple were first seen canoodling at Usher’s 40th birthday bash back in October 2018.

The Jett actress was in her second trimester while shooting her role as Karen Greer in Stefano Sollima’s war flick Without Remorse, which streams later this year on Amazon Prime Video.

‘The men think they’re hardcore, but they could never do what they do while also making a baby. They just couldn’t,’ Jodie said of castmates Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.

‘True strength is not found in force and brutality, but in vulnerability. I would love to do more action, and action where I’m allowed to be a woman.’  

Turner-Smith added: ‘Patriarchal society really is out here, scamming women into thinking that they’re not supremely powerful beings because, damn, it’s some goddess-level s***.’

On December 19, the former banker wrapped a six-week shoot for Channel 5’s untitled Anne Boleyn drama, and some were outraged about the colorblind casting due to her Jamaican descent.

‘There’s an opportunity to tell a really human story and for it to feel that much more accessible because a Black woman is playing her,’ Jodie defended.

Director Lynsey Miller has insisted Turner-Smith was ‘the best actress for the role’ of Henry VIII’s second wife, who was beheaded for not producing a male heir in 1536.

‘I am happy to stand by it,’ the Scottish filmmaker said recently.

‘I’m very proud of what we have created together, so let them talk. There are going to be a lot of people who don’t like it, but I feel like there has to be space for that and there are going to be a lot of people who love it. I’m one of them.’