Hollywood actress Natalie Dormer, known among fans for portraying the character Margaery Tyrell from the epic fantasy TV show Game of Thrones, has announced that she's become a mother in lockdown. Speaking on the That's After Life podcast to Esther Rantzen, the actress revealed that she had given birth to a baby girl three months back with her partner David Oakes. Natalie explained, "It's the perfect thing to do during a pandemic – get pregnant, have a baby." She added, "I feel like I'm probably being a bit of a cliché – she'll probably be sitting in a bar in 30 years' time one day going, 'Yeah, I'm a COVID baby'. I think there's going to be lots of COVID babies because what else can people do, maybe like Blitz babies?"

Natalie Dormer has been in a relationship with boyfriend David Oakes since they first starred together in West End play Venus in Fur in 2019. Speaking about the new addition in their lives, Natalie said, "She's just three months and she's an absolute joy. I'm never going to complain about shooting hours ever again because sleep deprivation is something else." She added, "People say, 'Your whole perspective on life will change, and your whole set of values' and you sort of roll your eyes and go, 'Yeah, yeah' and then you have one and you go, 'Oh, wow!'. I'm in love. I'm absolutely in love, she's a joy. Sleep has always been quite important to me, that's the only downside. But you know, nature is so clever – the hormones kick in." 

Having played the character Cressida in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay films, Natalie Dormer also spoke about going back to work after having a baby. She said, "I'm going to find it very difficult, I think. You don't want to warp the childhood experience. People in the industry that I'm in do lean on nannies and they do that for a reason so that they can take children with them. But, I mean for me, this is the perfect time to go back to the stage, because then I could be with her all day. But with COVID, who knows when that will happen? I really feel for our theatres around the country, there's hard times."