Christina Ricci says her 8-year-old son Freddie 'won't be able to avoid' growing up to be a feminist
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Christina Ricci, who made her screen debut when she was nine, is aware that her career as an actress impacts her young children. Thus, she has taken it upon herself with the help of her husband to raise her 8-year-old son as a "feminist."
In an interview with The Guardian, the 'Yellowjackets' star said her son Freddie "won't be able to avoid" growing up to be a feminist because of his mother and stepfather Mark Hampton. "My husband, Mark [Hampton], is, I hate to say it because it sounds really obnoxious, a feminist," Ricci said. "And Freddie is going to see that, and see his working mother. I think he'll see women in a much more layered, complicated way, just by having grown up watching his mom do all this stuff," she added.
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"He's asking questions like, 'Mom, is that racist?' Or, 'Mom, is that OK for women?'" Ricci told the publication. "He's got this whole thing about not calling objects – like boats – she. He'll correct me: 'Women are not objects.'"
Her son, for his part, has reportedly always been quite attentive about this subject. In an interview with People in 2018, Ricci revealed that at the age of three, Freddie was asking her questions about her job. "He's come home from preschool and been out in the world and said to me, 'Mama, are you a movie actress?'" she shared. "And I didn't say that to him. People mention it to him, clearly. I have to then explain to him what it is, and we've shown him movies."
It appears Freddie grew fond of his mother’s bold and eccentric characters with time. "In the beginning, he didn't want to see anything where Mommy looked different and then he started actually requesting [films]," the star recalled. Having watched Ricci’s 1995 movie 'Casper', the couple realized that "he hadn't developed that ability to discern reality from fiction." She continued, "He started asking me about my childhood with my best friend, the ghost," she said, referring to the family film. "And we were like, 'Oh! Too soon.' For a while, he was asking me a lot about ghosts and living alone with my dad and being a ghost and we were just like, 'Oh no!'"
The 'Addams Family' star gave birth to her son Freddie in 2014 whom she shares with her former husband, James Heerdegen. The pair parted ways in 2020. She welcomed a daughter with Hampton in December 2021. After much thought, the couple named her, Cleopatra Ricci Hampton. The actress, 42, is currently portraying strong female characters on two separate series, Misty Quigley on 'Yellowjackets' and Marilyn Thornhill on 'Wednesday'.