Michelle Williams On Motherhood: 'It's At The Center Of Everything That I Do'

Michelle Williams has opened up about raising her 11-year-old daughter Matilda as a single mother, and how it affects everything that she does.

“I think when you become a mother, it’s sort of difficult to separate yourself from being a mother,” the 36-year-old actress expressed (via USA Today) while attending the press conference for her latest film Wonderstruck during the 2017 Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on Wednesday (May 18) in Cannes, France.

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“Being a mother is not only who I am in my relationship with my daughter, but it’s a part of the kind of work that I wanna make and the relationship with the person that I want to be for her, so there is really no area of my life that is untouched. It’s at the center of everything that I do,” Michelle added.

In Wonderstruck, Elaine (Williams) is the nurturing single mom of 12-year-old Ben (Oakes Fegley). She encourages her son’s interests in space, museums and collecting, and teaches him to be inquisitive, even when she’s uncomfortable answering his questions about his absent father.

“What I find most interesting about motherhood in this film and everything that I make about being a mother is being responsive to the child that you are connecting to,” Michelle continued. “Personally and professionally, the great (trick to) working with children and knowing children is listening to children, and responding to who they are. Not your idea of a perfect child, not who you want them to be, but who they really are. For Mother’s Day, my daughter gave me a card that said, ‘Mom, thanks for letting me be me,’ and it was a picture with somebody in high heels on a skateboard. That’s my ultimate (goal); that’s what I want them to do.”

Michelle was joined at the press conference by her co-stars Julianne Moore, Jaden Michael and Millicent Simmonds, as well as director Todd Haynes, screenwriter Brian Selznick, and producers Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon.

FYI: Michelle is wearing Louis Vuitton. Julianne is wearing Givenchy Haute Couture.