Zawe Ashton says ‘doing pregnancy her way’ allowed her to claim autonomy over her own body

The ‘Fresh Meat’ star is expecting her first child with Tom Hiddleston

Zawe Ashton has revealed that “doing” her pregnancy on her own terms is what allowed her to claim autonomy over her body.

The actor, 38, perhaps best known for her role as Vod in Fresh Meat, debuted her growing baby bump at the premiere of her new movie, Mr Malcom’s List, in the US on 29 June.

The news arrived just two weeks after her fiancé and future co-parent, Tom Hiddleston, 41, revealed the actors had become engaged in March.

In an interview for The Guardian, the St Trinians star spoke about managing her desire to keep her personal life private while being unable to hide her “very visible” pregnancy on a recent press tour for Mr Malcom’s List.

“That’s the hysterical thing. No one wants to go on a press tour at the same time that they want to keep their personal life private, but that’s my ‘contractual professional obligation’,” she quipped.

Ashton then went on to describe the fraught experience of arriving as a pregnant woman in New York City for the US leg of the tour just as the news broke that Roe v Wade had been overturned.

“I thought: ‘Oh God, there’s nothing more tone deaf I could be doing right now than promoting a lighthearted movie.’ I was also very aware that my presence in that promotion would be as a pregnant person,” she said.

But, refusing to let it dull her spirit, the actor contended that now is a more important time than ever for stories of pregnancy to be shared and recognised.

She continued: “We’re having very important conversations about the autonomy we have over our bodies. What better autonomy could I have than just doing it how I wanted to do it?”

But Ashton, who recently starred in the fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale, acknowleged that not all child-bearing people have the same experience.

“I have so many friends who have been through real grief, with regards to pregnancy and conception,” she explained.

“I hope I can represent anyone on this journey, in whatever way they’re on it. Because it doesn’t get more ancient than this,” she joked, in reference to having a child in her late thirties.

Hiddleston and Ashton have been together since they played husband and wife in the 2019 West End revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.

They made their first red-carpet debut as a couple in September 2021 at the Tony Awards in New York City.