Inglorious Basterds star Diane Kruger and her boyfriend, The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, famously keep their relationship and daughter out of the public eye. In a new interview with BuzzFeed, the 43-year-old star explained why she fights for their daughter’s privacy.
“I didn’t know I was going to feel so strongly about it before I had [my daughter] but as I was coming back from The Operative and I was very heavily pregnant, I felt like I was under siege,” Kruger explained to AM2DM by BuzzFeed News. “There’s paparazzi constantly in front of our house. Grown men followed me around while I was heavily pregnant, and as soon as she was born, putting her in the stroller and going around, there’s just people shouting at her and us, following us in cars.”
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She continued, “It just feels like such an invasion of privacy and I don’t want her to grow up like this. I want her to be able to go to the park and be anonymous and choose her own life. So we decided we’re going to be very private.”
Back in November 2018, the couple confirmed they welcomed a baby, but declined to reveal the baby’s name or gender at the time. In December, Kruger let it slip that the baby is a girl during an Extra interview to promote her film Welcome to Marwen.
Since then, fans have only seen brief glimpses of Kruger and Reedus’ daughter. Reedus has shared photos, but they are always carefully edited to exclude the baby’s face.
In January, Kruger took to Instagram to ask fans and paparazzi not to share a photo of the baby that leaked. She shared the image herself, with their daughter’s face blocked out.
“Dear fans, dear non fans, dear paparazzi and anyone with a conscience. We were just tagged in these paparazzi pictures of me and our daughter. These pictures were taken without our consent and expose a vulnerable and innocent baby,” Kruger wrote. “While we understand that some people would like to see a picture of our daughter, we as parents, want nothing more than allow her to grow up in privacy and safety.”
She continued, “Me and [Reedus] would kindly ask you not to repost these pictures and help us achieve that goal. Whoever has already posted them, please take them down. Please put yourself in our shoes. We are just like any parent wanting the very best for our child. Thank you for your support.”
Elsewhere in her interview with BuzzFeed, the German-born actress was asked why she does not avoid talking about politics.
“Because I’m a citizen of the world and I’m a citizen of the United States. This is where I live,” she said. “I love this country tremendously, and even though I’m not American by birth, the people of America have shown me so much kindness and I just love living here.”
“My daughter is American and I feel concerned, just like everybody, about the future of the world, and of this country,” she explained. “As an immigrant myself in this country I feel threatened sometimes, and as a woman, I feel like [President Trump] is stomping on the very things that I’ve wanted to come here for in the first place. I think it’s a dangerous time, and especially being German, a very ugly part of my country’s past is being reborn here.”
Kruger’s next film, The Operative, opens in limited release on Aug. 2. It was written and directed by Yuval Adler, and centers on a Mossad agent working undercover in Tehran.
Photo credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
