Just before Christmas, Jodie Turner-Smith confirmed several pieces of news which many of us already suspected: she and Joshua Jackson did get married at some point, likely in the late summer of 2019, and she was expecting the couple’s first child. Around the same time, she talked a lot about how she’d been living in America since she was a kid, and the thought of going back to live permanently in the UK – where she was born – was not on her agenda. But she still didn’t have American citizenship, and she was considering applying for citizenship around the birth of this child. Well, looks like she now has other thoughts. From an interview she did with the Sunday Times (via People):
Why she doesn’t want to raise her child in America: “The racial dynamics over here are fraught. White supremacy is overt. It’s the reason I don’t want to raise my kids here,” Turner-Smith told the publication. She added: “I don’t want my kids to grow up doing active shooter drills at school.” As to where they’ll possibly go? “England has gone off the rails,” the British actress said, “so I was thinking maybe Canada.”
On her marriage: “I haven’t said to anybody, ‘Yeah, we got married.’ People are assuming whatever they want, but when people tell me ‘Congratulations’, I say ‘Thank you’. ”
Moving to America after growing up in England: “So I was really excited when I came to America about meeting black people. But it was a huge culture shock, because I was rejected by the black community. They were like, ‘You talk like a white girl.’ People would call me an Oreo. All I wanted was acceptance,” she said. When she moved to the U.S., Turner-Smith said she “would practice in the mirror, talking in a way that I thought was like black American: cutting you down with my words in five seconds if you came for me.”
Marrying a white man: “There was this wave of people who were upset that I was possibly married to a white man. In America interracial dating or marriage is not something that is as accepted. Certain people feel strongly against it, in both communities. I felt it from the black community. It is so complicated. I don’t want to give it too much energy. The horrific things that people were saying, it makes you. … I’m learning there are certain things I have to really keep for myself.”
On Joshua Jackson: “We are obsessed with each other,” said Turner-Smith, who admitted she “went back and rewatched a lot of [Joshua’s] movies. I do it whenever we’re apart because I miss him so much. He loves that I am obsessed with him.” Referencing her pregnancy, she added, “Joshua tells me every day, ‘The way you’re handling this is incredible.’ He’s more tired than I am.”
Joshua and Jodie really do seem obsessed with each other, and they went from casual to crazy-serious about each other in what felt like a month. When you know, you know. And Joshua’s old movies are good! She should watch the first few seasons of Dawson’s Creek. As for what she says about race and racism and the white supremacy in America…yeah, I’m not going to argue with her. Donald Trump’s presidency has brought the worst out of a lot of people, and a lot of racists, bigots, homophobes and misogynists feel empowered to do and say as they please.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
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