Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender are officially the parents of two!
In a new profile with Elle, Vikander, 35, revealed that she and Fassbender, 47, secretly welcomed their second child together. “All women have such different experiences, and going through it a second time was definitely harder for me. But I think training made it easier,” she said in the story on Wednesday, July 24.
She went on to describe her second pregnancy as a “marathon,” adding, “It does help if you’re strong going into it. It’s so physically demanding, and I have so much admiration for any woman who has done it. I gave birth four times on screen before I did it myself. Your job is to pretend as an actor, but every time I had to give birth, I said to every woman on set, ‘I’m sorry.’ I felt like such an imposter.”
Though Vikander didn’t share too many details, it was revealed that she had given birth prior to filming her upcoming thriller, Hope.
“When I met you in Korea, you had literally just had your second baby, and the stuff we had to do in the film was so physical,” her costar Taylor Russell said while interviewing Vikander. “I just thought, this is somebody who is clearly so in tune with her body, who knows how to take care of herself and has stamina. I was so impressed by how you showed up after doing something so intense.” (Hope is set to premiere next year.)
Vikander and Fassbender’s latest baby news is reminiscent of how they announced the birth of their first child. “I now have a whole new understanding of life in general,” Vikander told People in September 2021, revealing she had secretly become a first-time mother. “That’s pretty beautiful and obviously will give a lot to any of my work in the future.”
Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender.
The couple, who met playing love interests in 2016’s The Light Between Oceans, have primarily kept their relationship out of the spotlight over the years. Fassbender made his red carpet debut with Vikander at the Formula One Grand Prix in 2015 and cheered her on as she won Best Supporting Actress at the 2016 Oscars.
Vikander confirmed rumors that she and Fassbender had tied the knot in October 2017 by sporting her wedding band during a red carpet appearance. “I feel I’m more happy and content than I’ve ever been,” she said of married life in a February 2018 interview with Vogue. “The happy-and-content thing, that’s talking about my private life.”
At the time, Vikander also confirmed that she and Fassbender had settled down in Lisbon, Portugal. “It’s not about being secretive,” she stated. “It’s just about choosing the few things that you keep private.”
One year after quietly welcoming their son in 2021, Vikander told Harper’s Bazaar UK that she and Fassbender coordinate their careers around their child. “We do jobs so one of us can always be with the baby,” she explained.
Vikander has also opened up about experiencing fertility struggles. “I tried to get pregnant for a while,” she told the outlet in April 2022. “So I had tough times during lockdown. I struggled for a while.”
