‘Westworld’ Star Thandie Newton Vows To Protect Her Daughter ‘Like A Lioness’

Hollywood might seem like such a wonderful place for most people, but many stars know the truth - behind the glitz and glamor hide lies, cruelty, gender inequality, and even sexual abuse.

“Westworld” star Thandie Newton has experienced the worst of Hollywood first-hand, so now that her daughter, Nico Parker, has dipped her toes in Disney’s next live action movie “Dumbo,” Newton said she has been guarding her nonstop.

“She’s one of the leads in Dumbo,” Newton, 45, said during her Wednesday appearance on Britain’s This Morning. “She was 12 years old when she made the film. She’s been on endless sets. It’s not that she takes it for granted, but it’s not a world that she feels she’s not entitled to be in.”

Newton acknowledged that the environment in Hollywood is much different now, but that has not stopped her from caring for her daughter. “She has her mum right there like a lioness checking that everything is looked after,” Newton said. “You can’t stop the industry [from] operating the way it has unless the truth comes out.”

Meanwhile, Newton also revealed in a separate interview with Deadline that she almost quit on her acting career before “Westworld” came along.

“I was actually thinking of, very seriously, thinking of quitting acting because I write now and I wanted to direct my own material. And we have three children,” Newton said. “Time is precious. The time I’m gonna spend away from my children has to really be worthwhile and it was becoming less and less worthwhile for me, frankly, aside from paying the bills, and so on.”

Newton added that she often found herself in situations where she was being exploited - whether it be with nudity or other compromising acting situations. Thankfully, “Westworld” was a breath of fresh air.

She earlier told Variety that playing Maeve was equivalent to playing the “truth” because everything about the host - especially her smart and sassy side - felt “normal.” She no longer felt the need to hide her true self because Maeve was all that and more.

“Very often the truth of the characters I play as a woman is that she’s powerful, she’s intelligent, [and] she’s able to multitask. So I want to give it up massively to the [expletive] men on our show to have the generosity of spirit, to have the sophistication, the progressiveness to put a platform up for women,” Newton said.

“Westworld” season 2 airs every Sunday on HBO.