Jessie Cave Reflects on Lavender Brown, Motherhood, and Her Career
Though she didn’t join the cast until later in the Harry Potter film series, Jessie Cave’s impact as Lavender Brown was as significant and enduring as if she were there from the start. Who could forget her passionate pursuit of the hapless Ron Weasley’s affections? Could any other actor have better emulated the unhinged torment of first love? We doubt it. Jessie Cave, you see, knows a thing or two about obsession.
“She will never be as hurt as that first rejection, she wears her heart on her sleeve and hasn’t been hurt yet,” Cave said of the character. “She just thought, ‘I should be loved. Why shouldn’t I be loved?'” The actor, author, comedian, and mother reflected that her own four children have taught her quite a bit more about love in the years since.
In previous interviews, Cave has spoken at length about her childhood and eventual entrance into acting. She was an adult when first taking on the role and had an immensely positive experience on set. She is not without caution, however, regarding her children joining the acting world. “It just stops everything, you’re frozen in time from when you got that first job,” she noted in a recent interview with Metro. “I’ve worked with enough child actors and had enough experience in the industry to see how devastating it can be for your development, and how toxic the industry can be.”
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Cave, who gave birth to her first child four years after her Potter debut, is passionate about motherhood. Her podcast, Whenever It Kicks with Jessie Cave, is full of hilarious gems about pregnancy, parenting, and a lot more. She also harbors a wish to take this particular passion a bit further, expressing a fervent curiosity about midwifery.
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Her life and experiences have also informed one of Jessie Cave’s other major obsessions: comedy. Her Edinburgh Fringe Show, aptly titled Jessie Cave: An Ecstatic Display, attempts to explore her life and its chaos. There are many props involved and even more hilarious insight. Comedy as a whole has been a journey that has, according to Cave, been quite fulfilling.
I haven’t ever quite fitted in anywhere, and I think I was self-aware enough to know that me not fitting in was amusing. So I made a thing of it. I probably isolated myself further by doing that, but comedy has been a great gift to me, allowing me to feel accepted socially. How weird I am is something I am now proud of, rather than deeply ashamed of.
Weird or not, it sounds like growth to us. We are certainly excited to see where Jessie Cave’s endeavors take her next.
