Florence Pugh on needing a summer vacation: “I hate how much of my life I’ve missed”

In an interview with British Vogue, Pugh — who in recent years starred in Marvel’s Black Widow and Hawkeye; Oppenheimer; Dune: Part Two; Marvel’s Thunderbolts; and the forthcoming drama We Live in Time with Andrew Garfield — confessed she needed a break.

“It was the first time ever in my career when I’ve actually asked for a summer break,” she tells the magazine. “I’m an absolute work maniac, [but] I [could] see I’m exhausted.”

She adds, “I suddenly woke up last year and I was like, ‘I hate how much of my life I’ve missed.’ Yes, I want to have a career forever, but that’s not going to happen if I work myself into the ground.”

She’s back at work now, promoting We Live in Time, an out-of-order romance drama with Garfield, who calls his love interest an “incredibly accessible actor” who boasts that “extra mysterious factor that can’t be named.”

Pugh says apart from her career aspirations, family is “always” on her mind. “I’ve always been thinking about starting a family. I’ve wanted to have kids since I was a child myself. I love the idea of a big family.”

She adds, “I love kids. I love hanging out with kids. If ever there’s a dinner party, I go straight to the kids to chat to them. So much easier. I love the honesty. I love how bored they can get. I’ve never stopped knowing that I want to have kids. It’s just figuring out when.”

We Live in Time, from Oscar-winning indie studio A24, opens Sept. 7.