GOING AGAINST the tide

Perhaps best known for her roles in the teen film Mean Girls and the romantic drama The Notebook, Rachel McAdams does things her own way in real life, with a quiet, steely determination, winning fans along the way.

- SANDRA PARMEE

Rachel McAdams has never been one to conform, even in an industry as cutthroat as Hollywood.

Through her thoughtful, restrained selection of roles, she has established herself as a character actress of extraordinary range and versatility. But the role she is most excited about right now is motherhood.

The 43-year-old star has two small children with screenwriter boyfriend Jamie Linden. After her first child, a son, was born in April 2018, Rachel said, 'It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me, hands down. [People say] your life is not your own any more, but I had 39 years of me; I was sick of me. I was so happy to put the focus on some other person.

As for the fact that motherhood happened a little later for her than some, the star has no regrets. 'It's just how it happened,' she says. ‘And I didn't want to do it before it was the right time.'

The star was seen sporting another baby bump in August 2020, so we're assuming they have a second child - Rachel is understandably very private about her kids, keeping their names and other details out of the media. But in an interview given during lockdown, she credits her son, then two years old, as a welcome distraction. 'I'm having more fun being a mom than I've ever had,' she said. 'Everything about it is interesting and exciting and inspiring to me. Even the tough days – there's something delightful about them.

Early ambitions

Born in Ontario, Canada, Rachel describes her upbringing as idyllic: summers swimming in the Great Lakes, and winters tobogganing and building snow forts. When she was seven, she wrote a letter to her parents declaring her ambition to be an actress. “Then I hid under my bed; I felt so shy.'