Carey Mulligan says becoming a mother has made her empathise even more with the plight of Syrian refugees. The actress, who welcomed daughter Evelyn in September, discussed the shock she felt after visiting a refugee camp during an appearance on ITV News on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old is a global ambassador for War Child and visited the Za'taari camp in Jordan earlier this year, where an estimated 80,000 refugees are living after fleeing the war in Syria. Carey explained that she was stunned by the "amount of change" Syrian children face as a result of the conflict.
Carey Mulligan visited a refugee camp earlier this year
"These were children who grew up in lovely homes on the whole. Their parents had great jobs, they went to school, they were having a good education and one day it all just changed," Carey said. "It was the amount of loss, and how discombobulating it was to go this very ordinary – by our standards – life, to going to living in a desert in a tin hut.
"It was the level of change and how these kids were trying to wrestle with that."
Carey added that since becoming a mother in September she has empathised even more with the families and children whose future is uncertain.
Carey is a War Child ambassador and attended the ICAP Charity Day in December
"I look at my daughter now and I think, this is so exciting, I wonder what you're going to be," Carey said. "You could be a doctor or lawyer or an engineer or any of these things. These parents in Syria, they had those same feelings, my daughter could be anything she wants to be, and now that's gone."
The Suffragette actress welcomed her baby girl with husband Marcus Mumford in September, and quickly returned to work just weeks later. While she has declined to reveal any details beyond baby Evelyn's name and gender, Carey is said to be enjoying her new role as a first-time mother.