Jessie Buckley won over critics and moviegoers with her heart-wrenching performance in “Hamnet,” but her comments in a three-month-old interview are receiving new scrutiny as awards season draws to a close.
Appearing on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast with her “Hamnet” co-star Paul Mescal in November, Buckley admitted she’d made her husband, Freddie Sorensen, get rid of his two cats early in their relationship.
“Cats are mean,” she insisted. “My husband, when I started dating him, he had two cats … this is bad … One of the cats was, like, a pedigree model bitch. And she staged, like, a coup against me. I’d come home, and there would just be, like, poo on my pillow.”
Eventually, Buckley gave Sorensen an ultimatum ― which she joked may now get her “canceled.”
“I was like: ‘It’s me or the cats,’” she recalled. “But I won! Sorry!”
Mescal appeared to support his co-star’s actions, and quipped: “Fuck cats, honestly. Fuck ’em!”
Watch Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal’s “Happy Sad Confused” interview below. Their comments on cats can be found around the 36:42 mark.
A snippet of Buckley’s remarks has drawn a plethora of amusing, if polarized, responses after being posted to Reddit this week. Many argued that the Irish actor viewed pets as mere “accessories” and that telling a partner to get rid of their animals was akin to asking them “to convert to a religion for you.”
“Getting rid of your pets for someone is crazy. Asking someone to do that is even crazier,” one person wrote.
Added another: “If my soul mate asked me to get rid of my dog I’d say ‘guess you’re not my soul mate after all’ and kick them to the curb without a moment’s thought.”
Others felt Buckley’s stance would be justified if she had allergies or other serious concerns that would make pet ownership more difficult.
Less-than-favorable takes on felines aside, Buckley is widely considered the front-runner to win the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes (or Anne) Hathaway, in “Hamnet.” She’s already received a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and an Actor Award for her performance.
Directed by Chloe Zhao, the period drama follows Hathaway and Shakespeare (Mescal) as they grieve the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, who some believe may have inspired his father’s tragic play “Hamlet.”