Alicia Vikander Says She Felt Most Sad at the Height of Her Fame

July 2024 · 5 minute read

“Irma Vep” star Alicia Vikander has reminisced about her early years in the spotlight in a new interview with The Times of London, saying she was “the most sad at the height of [her] fame.”

The 33-year-old Swedish actress, who broke through internationally with Nikolaj Arcel’s Oscar-nominated “A Royal Affair” in 2012, became a global star after knockout back-to-back performances in the sci-fi thriller “Ex Machina” and transgender romance “Danish Girl,” the latter of which earned her a best supporting actress Oscar in 2016. But during that time, Vikander said she felt lonelier than ever.

“When, in other people’s eyes, I was at my height of fame, I was the most sad. I kept telling myself, ‘Take it in. It is incredible.’ But I didn’t know what to do. There were all these first-class flights, five-star rooms. But I was always by myself. I was by myself,” Vikander told The Times.

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Right around that time, in 2015, it was reported that she and her then-boyfriend Michael Fassbender, who is now her husband, had split up. She now lives in Lisbon, Portugal, with Fassbender and their 17-month-old baby.

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Vikander also alluded to her personal experience with miscarriage, a theme that was tackled in the melodrama “The Light Between Oceans,” in which she stars opposite Fassbender. “Talk about meta,” said Vikander, who met Fassbender while filming the Derek Cianfrance-directed movie. “We have a child now, but it took us time,” she said.

“The Light Between Oceans” has “another meaning now,” Vikander continued. “[The miscarriage] was so extreme, painful to go through and, of course, it made me recall making that film.”

Vikander, who shot HBO limited series “Irma Vep” in Paris three months after they welcomed their baby, also discussed the challenges of balancing a busy acting career and parenting. “We do every second job (…) One stays at home while the other works.” She also said Fassbender took their baby to the set of “Irma Vep” so that she “could see [her] face.”

The actress just wrapped the shoot of “Firebrand,” in which she plays Catherine Parr, the last wife of King Henry VIII of England, and stars opposite Jude Law. In “Irma Vep,” a playful redo of Assayas’s 1996 niche film, Vikander plays the leading role as an A-list American star filming the remake of a cult silent film.

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