Claire Danes may seem like she has it all— a supportive husband, a beautiful 7-month-old son, Cyrus, and not to mention back-to-back wins at the Golden Globes for her controversial role as Carrie Mathison in the Showtime hit "Homeland,"— but in the new issue of Vogue, the actress is opening up about the struggles that almost made her quit acting for good.
"It was confusing. I got a lot of plaudits and it didn't translate into more work," Danes told the fashion mag about a long lasting dry-spell following her 2010 work in the award-winning "Temple Grandin."
"It was grim. I was very hurt. Two years of not working was brutal and a point came where I thought, 'I really like interior design,'" she said.
Danes, who is known for taking on complex characters, admits she was offered a few roles that she couldn't force herself take.
"I just couldn't play dinky-you know the girl," she said.
When "Homeland" came along, Danes said she almost didn't take that either. At the time, she was weighing the decision between playing Carrie, and playing a secretary in Clint Eastwood's flick about J. Edgar Hoover, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
"I was like 'Do I want to play the secretary to the boss man or do I want to be the boss man?" she said. "I was scared of it, and I thought, OK, right, that means I have to do it." she said of taking on the lead role that led her to one of the best nights of her life.
"'I went on the red carpet, went upstairs, fed Cyrus. Went into the ceremony, got the award, went back to feed Cyrus, went out again," she told Vogue of her experience at the 2013 Golden Globes. "I'm wearing a big Jessica Rabbit dress, and I'd been living in sweat pants for so long. It was strange. It was dreamy, surrounded by my parents and my husband. It was one of the best nights of my life because of this perfect mash-up."
Despite her many accolades, Danes admits that she still turns to Hollywood vets like Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon and Jodie Foster for advice.
So what has she learned?
"You have to pick your battles on set. You have to come to work from a place of love," she said. "You have to stay hydrated when you have crying scenes. You have to go to college. And you have to ask for money because there's always more money and they won't give it to you because you're a girl!"
