‘I Literally Couldn’t Sleep’: Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley Recalls Dealing With Backlash Over Viral Interview Comments
Daisy Ridley quickly became famous at the age of 23 for taking part in some of the best Star Wars movies in years, starting with The Force Awakens. But as she became a new face of one of the biggest franchises of all time, the actress was quickly thrust into the spotlight and exposed to the double-edged sword of fame. Ridley recently recalled how one interview she did during her time promoting the Sequel Trilogy led to some fallout at the expense of her own shuteye.
Back in 2019, ahead of The Rise of Skywalker hitting theaters, Daisy Ridley was asked by The Guardian about how her “privilege” has perhaps affected how she navigates celebrity. The interview wrote that the question led Ridley to become “suddenly incredulous” and led things to “take an awkward turn.” Ridley then said her and co-star John Boyega had a “similar enough” upbringing before correcting herself that she’d gone to a performing arts boarding school on scholarship. Here’s how she reflects on the interview now:
I literally couldn’t sleep after that came out because I felt like, honestly, it was a purposeful de-contextualising. I was reading it thinking, ‘that’s not what I meant, that’s not what I meant.’ It was incredibly upsetting, and it’s interesting when you’ve spoken about something 100 times, and then just the lens changes slightly of how that’s viewed. I had always spoken about John and I’d always spoken about the two of us together, so that was really weird.
While speaking to The Telegraph, Ridley reflected on her comments from five years ago, sharing that the interview’s contents kept her up at night because of how she felt her words were taken out of context and expressed in a way that did not reflect what she meant to say. The interview certainly could make it sound like Ridley was tone deaf to how her co-star being the son to immigrant parents from Nigeria would give them different privileges, but that was not the star’s intention.
When the interview was released, a Reddit thread on the topic showed a lot of fans siding with Ridley. One comment said the interviewer gave her a “really dumb” question, while others said it was “passive aggressive” and “nasty” toward the actress. Ridley and Boyega became fast friends on the Star Wars movies and remained close throughout their wild shared experience together of becoming big names in Hollywood with the release of The Force Awakens. (Ridley even gifted Boyega with an awesome wrap gift after they finished filming the trilogy.)
Next up, Ridley is set to reprise her role as Rey in an untitled movie that has the actress excited to return to the universe. The movie will pick up 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker at a time when Rey is training a new generation of Jedi. You can check out what other upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows are coming up next here on CinemaBlend.
