{"id":1991633,"date":"2025-09-01T18:58:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1991633"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:58:57","slug":"vertigo-star-kim-novak-shares-shocking-childhood-details-in-new-doc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/vertigo-star-kim-novak-shares-shocking-childhood-details-in-new-doc\/","title":{"rendered":"Vertigo Star Kim Novak Shares Shocking Childhood Details in New Doc"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Actress Kim Novak<\/strong><\/a> is opening up about her childhood, growing up during the Great Depression to a mother that, she says, nearly killed her twice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Depression caused so much hardship,\u201d Novak, 92<\/a>, said in the new documentary, Kim Novak\u2019s Vertigo<\/em>, per People<\/em><\/a>. \u201cMy mom got pregnant, and she just couldn\u2019t afford to have a child. She tried to abort me with knitting needles. But she wasn\u2019t able to do it in this case, so I was born, but I know that she tried to suffocate me with a pillow, and I always had breathing issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak said she remembers \u201cfighting to breathe, to stay alive, and I won,\u201d she continued. \u201cI stayed alive. I made it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film, directed by Alexandre O. Philippe<\/strong> and now screening at the Venice Film Festival, chronicles the Vertigo<\/em> actress\u2019 early life and on-screen career, which spanned from 1954 to 1991.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Sally Field Through the Years: Film and TV Roles, Marriages and More<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tOne of the greats! Sally Field has tackled a variety of roles throughout her career, from boy-crazy surfers to educated First Ladies. \u201cShe dared this town to typecast her, and then simply broke through every dogmatic barrier to find her own way \u2014 not to stardom, which I imagine she\u2019d decry, but to great roles [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Despite her difficult upbringing, Novak maintained a relationship with both her parents, Joseph<\/strong> and Blanche<\/strong>, and even looks back fondly on her childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI so often think of my childhood as not being a good healthy childhood, but it was, you know,\u201d Novak said, according to People<\/em>. \u201cThere were beautiful things. My father was a very strict man and difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cMy father was like, \u2018No one can succeed,\u2019 but my mom was very confident and her eyes sparkled and twinkled and she was so full of wanting to express the joy of life. I can still hear her telling me, or really making me tell me by looking in the mirror that I am the captain of my own ship, that I can be in charge of myself and what I do and how I create my image to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to screening the documentary, the Venice Film Festival is also honoring Novak with a lifetime achievement award.<\/p>\n

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