Jodie Turner-Smith Reflects on 'Secret' Whirlwind Marriage and Motherhood Journey (original) (raw)

Jodie Turner-Smith is in the midst of a milestone year that she didn't see coming.

Back in 2013, the British actress, 36, launched her acting career with a minor role on HBO's True Blood. That fact makes 2023 pretty special. "Wow, happy 10 years to me!" the star says after being informed of the marker during her interview with PEOPLE for this week's issue.

"I didn't even think about that, that it's been 10 years, I can't believe it. There's something so special about finding something that you really like and working very hard at it and seeing what happens."

Turner-Smith's in the midst of promoting Murder Mystery 2, in which she stars opposite Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, but if there was one role that changed everything, both personally and professionally, she says it was starring in 2019's Queen & Slim.

"I watched it and I remember that I just cried because I had no idea I was capable of that," she says of the emotional role. "I felt proud of myself." And as things started to really take off career-wise, the same was happening in her personal life with fellow actor Joshua Jackson.

Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty

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"Everything happened at the same time for me," she explains of finding herself in a whirlwind romance with the Dawson's Creek alum, 44. "It was like, I fell in love right before I started this movie that would basically change my life, and then by the time I was putting this movie out I was pregnant, I was secretly married and I was trying to have one moment and not let the other moment overshadow it, which is why I tried to keep it secret."

Then, says Turner-Smith, "The whole world stopped and there was a global pandemic and I got to slow down with this precious child of mine." It's then that the star says she was truly able to take stock in all that had happened so quickly.

"There's so much guilt and pressure on women and mothers to just act as though you haven't just gone through this deeply transformational process, this life-changing, earth-shattering, body and perception-shifting transformation," she says of childbirth and motherhood. "The pandemic smacked me in the face and forced me to slow down, and I'm so glad it did."

That said, as a working mom to her and Jackson's 2-year-old daughter, Turner-Smith still has her bouts with mom-guilt.

"I wish there was a manual. I wish there was a cut-and-dry way to do this," she says. "But I feel that to be fulfilled is being my best self for my child. I try to involve her in my life and not let work be this thing that exists outside of her."

The star has one goal. While it's lofty, she's dead set on it: "I really want to have it all," says Turner-Smith, "and I work really hard so that I can. And," she adds, "I'm obstinate about the fact that no one can f---ing tell me that I can't."

For more on Jodie Turner-Smith, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE_, on newsstands Friday._

Murder Mystery 2 debuts on Netflix Friday.