Lily Collins reveals why filming Emily in Paris Season 5 was a struggle: ‘I went up to people and said…’
Behind the scenes of the fifth instalment of Emily in Paris, actor Lily Collins had a très magnifique new companion: her baby girl, Tove. While Emily Cooper was busy navigating Roman holidays and Parisian drama, Lily was mastering the ultimate balancing act — first-time motherhood paired with a whole career.
The actor and her husband, director Charlie McDowell, surprised fans by announcing they had welcomed their daughter via surrogate in late January 2025. But it wasn’t all flowers; Lily recently got candid about the reality of returning to the high-glam set just three months after becoming a mom.
Asking for grace
Known for her Type-A preparation, Lily admitted that her usual “perfectionist” mode hit a wall this year. “It’s my first job being a mom,” she shared in a recent interview with People. “Normally I can juggle a lot of things at once… what I realised this year is that’s just not possible when you have something greater than yourself to focus on.”
The struggle was real for the star, who found herself being more vulnerable with the crew than ever before. “I went up to people and I just said like, ‘OK, not sleeping a lot. I’m exhausted… I’m trying to figure a lot of things out in real time. It’s a struggle. I miss her,’” she confessed.
The shift in priorities even changed her performance. Usually a stranger to the blooper reel, Lily found herself laughing at her own mistakes this season. “I’ve never really been in the gag reel because I never really done a lot of mess ups… I wanted to never, never mess up,” she said. But this year? “I was like, ‘oh, they’re gonna put that… oh, they’re gonna put that.’ And it was amazing because I really felt like I had way more like fun and freedom.”
What’s new with Emily in Season 5?
While Lily was busy with Tove, her character Emily was busy breaking hearts across borders. Emily in Paris Season 5, which premiered on December 18, sees Emily trading the Eiffel Tower for the Colosseum as she heads to Rome. Between her blossoming romance with the dashing Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) and a shocking professional fallout with bestie Mindy (Ashley Park), the stakes are higher than ever.
