Natalie Dormer gave birth in January

28 April 2021

Natalie Dormer gave birth to a daughter in January.

Natalie Dormer

The 39-year-old actress and her partner David Oakes - who have been together since 2019 - quietly welcomed their first child into the world earlier this year, with the 'Game of Thrones' actress joking getting pregnant was the "perfect thing to do" during the coronavirus lockdown.

Speaking to her friend Esther Rantzen on her 'That's After Life' podcast, she said: "It's the perfect thing to do during a pandemic - get pregnant, have a baby.

"I feel like I'm probably being a bit of a cliché, she’ll probably be sitting in a bar in 30 years’ time one day going, 'Yeah, I'm a COVID baby'.

‘I think there's going to be lots of COVID babies because what else can people do, maybe like blitz babies?"

While Natalie praised her daughter - whose name she hasn't disclosed - as an "absolute joy", she admitted she's finding the sleepless nights hard.

She said: "She's just three months and she's an absolute joy, I'm never going to complain about shooting hours ever again because sleep deprivation is something else.

"People say, 'Your whole perspective on life will change, and your whole set of value system' and you sort of roll your eyes and go 'yeah, yeah' - and then you have one and you go, 'Oh. Wow!'

"I'm in love. I'm absolutely in love, she's a joy. Sleep has always been quite important to me --that's the only downside, but you know nature is so clever, the hormones kick in. So you regret it."

However, the former 'Tudors' star has a valuable "life skill" in being able to nap anywhere.

She said: "I love a lunch break because I nap. I’m a cat, I can nap anywhere. It's a life skill, and I don't have many but I'm very proud of that one, which has proved very useful with the baby."

The 'Hunger Games' actress is worried about working in film and TV with a young child because she doesn't want to "warp" their childhood, so she thinks now is the "perfect time" time to return to the theatre, once live performance is allowed to take place again.

She said: "I'm going to find it very difficult, I think, you don't want to warp the childhood experience.

"People in the industry that I'm in do lean on nannies and they do that for a reason so that they can take children with them.

"But, I mean for me, this is the perfect time to go back to the stage, because then I could be with her all day.

"But with COVID, who knows when that will happen. I really feel for our theatres around the country, there’s hard times."