Gemma Chan thins there is a "crazy" and "unrealistic" pressure on women.
Gemma Chan
The 'Crazy Rich Asians' actress believes society expects females to settle down and have a family within a short space of time and views deviations outside of that as wrong.
She said: "I think it's crazy how getting pregnant is drilled into you as the worst thing that could happen to you when you're a teenager or in your early 20s.
"Then suddenly when you got your mid-30s, the message is that you're running out of time.
"You essentially have a few years where you're supposed to meet the right person, settle down and start a family.
"I think that can be quite unrealistic."
The 36-year-old star can next be seen in 'I Am Hannah', a stand-alone episode in the new TV series 'I Am' and she wanted to tell the tale of someone going against expectations.
She said: "it's an exploration of both the external and internal pressures on women in terms of what society expects...
"I wanted to tell a story about a woman struggling to free herself from expectation.
"There's a lot of pressure on women around the idea of what it means to be a mother, what it means to be a woman if you don't want to be a mother or if you can't be a mother."
The show featured a lot of improvisation and though Gemma found it "terrifying", she enjoyed the experience.
She said: "I've done a bit at drama school but since I've been working professionally as an actor, this was the only time.
"On the one hand, it was terrifying because you didn't have the safety net of a script.
"But on the other hand, what you can get out of it can be incredibly rich and truthful."
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