When it comes to the worst advice she's received but never took, actress Emily Mortimer had to pause for a moment.
“I was trying to think of the answer to this question...and I realized that mostly the bad advice that I have taken in my life I have given myself,” Mortimer told ABC News’ chief business, technology and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis. "I wish there were other people I could blame for the terrible decision making I have made at times,"
Mortimer, who recently wrapped up filming for Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns," is known for films like “Match Point," “Shutter Island” and “Hugo” -- the latter received 11 Academy Award nominations and won 5. You also know her for writing and starring in her HBO show "Doll & Em" and appearing in NBC's “30 Rock” and HBO’s “The Newsroom."
While she says that most of the bad advice she has given herself, she does recall “the wrong advice” she got during the birth of her first child: “Not to have an epidural.”
After being in labor for 36 hours Mortimer, who had been working with a doula, was in immense “howling” pain. While deciding whether or not to get an epidural, she recalls being afraid of “disappointing the doula,” saying “that was definitely one of the main things” she was thinking.
“I don't know why I took all these people's advice," she recalled. "I was reading all these endless books on how to have the perfect labor experience and for some reason I just got hoodwinked by them all into thinking that it would be a good idea not to have an epidural or to try not to have an epidural.”
Mortimer had a successful delivery and the immense pain subsided following the epidural.
After that experience it's no surprise that when it came time to give birth to her second child, Mortimer revealed "the first thing I did was put in my epidural."
Hear more from Emily Mortimer on episode #98 of the podcast “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis”.
