'I was staring down 30, lost and confused': Amy Adams opens up on falling out of the limelight after the success of Catch Me If You Can

By Louise Saunders

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She's been nominated for a total of four Oscars, and has a starring role in upcoming Hollywood blockbuster, Superman - Man Of Steel.

And while Amy Adams' life may look rosy from the outside, she has opened up about suffering a crisis of confidence in the years following the success of 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can.

The 38-year-old actress admitted she was 'lost and confused' in the immediate aftermath of shooting the film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and let 'nerves' get the better of her.

'Lost and confused': Amy Adams has opened up about suffering a crisis of confidence in the years following the success of 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can

'Lost and confused': Amy Adams has opened up about suffering a crisis of confidence in the years following the success of 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can

Revealing all in an interview with the July issue of Elle UK, she said of falling out of the limelight: 'I choked. I felt this pressure to suddenly be this level of actress that I wasn’t confident enough to be. I did a series of really bad auditions, I let the nerves get the best of me.

 

'And the couple of years after that it was, "I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough to continue with this level of rejection". It was, "What am I going to do with my life?" I was staring down 30. I was lost, confused.'

And in spite of her A-list status, the actress confessed that she still suffers from her insecurities and prefers 'not being noticed'.

'Existential crisis': In spite of her A-list status, the 38-year-old actress confessed that she still suffers from her insecurities and prefers 'not being noticed'

'Existential crisis': In spite of her A-list status, the 38-year-old actress confessed that she still suffers from her insecurities and prefers 'not being noticed'

Posing in Burberry and Roksanda Illincic creations in the fashion-forward Elle shoot, she added: 'Being an actress hasn’t made me insecure. I was insecure long before I declared I was an actress.

'I like not being noticed. It has been a struggle because I love performing, but if I’m in a group of people and someone has a bigger personality I’m like "Go ahead, and have fun!" It looks like a lotta work.'

Amy, who has three-year-old daughter Aviana with fiance Darren Le Gallo, explained her crisis of confidence came to a head when she found herself feeling totally out of place at one Academy Awards ceremony.

'I felt this pressure to suddenly be this level of actress that I wasn¿t confident enough to be': Amy starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in 2002's Catch Me If You Can, before fading from the limelight in the years to follow

'I felt this pressure to suddenly be this level of actress that I wasn¿t confident enough to be': Amy starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in 2002's Catch Me If You Can, before fading from the limelight in the years to follow

See the full feature in the July issue of ELLE UK - on sale 5th June 2013. Also available as digital edition through Apple Newsstand

See the full feature in the July issue of ELLE UK - on sale 5th June 2013. Also available as digital edition through Apple Newsstand

'I had an existential crisis at the Oscars, sitting next to Sean Penn and Meryl Streep and being like, "What am I doing here? I don’t belong here." I felt like it could all be taken away.' she said.

The Fighter star admitted she only fell into the world of acting because she 'needed a job', and still finds having all eyes on her a 'vulnerable' experience.

She explained: 'I graduated high school and I didn’t have a skill set and I didn’t want to go to college. I needed a job. This is what I could do. And I like it, but it can be very painful. You feel so vulnerable all the time on set, so exposed.

'But I had that same feeling of being exposed when I was a waitress, I have it at parties, I have it here. I’d love to be a diva. But I’d then have to send so many apology notes for my abhorrent behaviour.'

Amy will next star as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder's Superman remake, Man Of Steel.

She explained of the action-packed movie: 'It’s more raw, a little less quippy. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the banter and the relationship between Lois and Clark, but it’s a totally new imagining of the story.

'I was shaking by the end of it. I realised that I hadn’t seen a film with that much action in it since Avatar, so it overwhelmed my adrenal system. Not that it’s all just action, but it is a lot of fun.'

See the full feature in the July issue of ELLE UK - on sale 5th June 2013. Also available as digital edition through Apple Newsstand.
 




The comments below have not been moderated.

She was soooo bad in The Great Gatsby. But she looks like she might be better in Now You See Me. She just shouldn't have been cast as Myrtle. But the actress who played Jordan was equally bad.

Click to rate     Rating   (0)

watch the david letterman interview of Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro on Youtube, Dustin said Amy is her favourite actress and DeNiro also complimented her. This shows how good Amy is and how much she is appreciated by the legends. BTW, love her in 'The Master'

Click to rate     Rating   2

LOVE her because she is so real and all Hollywood isn't!!!! Wish her all the best. Stay the way you are, Amy!!!

Click to rate     Rating   26

Love her one of my favorite actresses. She will win that Oscar one day :)

Click to rate     Rating   38

Nothing a good waitressing job wouldn't cure.

Click to rate     Rating   10

Amy Adams is a cutie! Loved her in 'Enchanted' and CMIYC...

Click to rate     Rating   34

I thought she was brilliant in Enchanted.

Click to rate     Rating   52

Still the public pays you all too much...From now on..I'm only paying $2-3.00 to see a movie, and it has to be one I really look forward to...not just any junk! Otherwise I watch myself with or without my family doing things I like!!! These people should not be payed attention so much!

Click to rate     Rating   4

38???? Now that is a young looking thrity -eight!! I thought she was in her late twenties. Gorgeous little girl, gorgeous mommy.

Click to rate     Rating   44

I love her! But I don't think she fell out of the limelight after that movie in 2002. I didn't even notice her in it. I don't think she "arrived" in the spotlight until 2007 with Enchanted. She is gorgeous, graceful -- she sings, she dances. So entertaining. And lovely.

Click to rate     Rating   64
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