The Untold Truth Of Daisy Ridley

Daisy Ridley was an unknown young actress when she was cast as the lead in one of Hollywood's biggest-ever film franchises, her life changing forever when she landed the coveted role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Born in London in 1992, Ridley studied drama at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, which led to small movie roles and TV guest spots before she was ultimately cast in director J.J. Abrams' 2015 Star Wars movie. "My sister asked me, 'Why do people want to be actors?' I had no answer," Ridley said in an early interview (via The Guardian). "I'm not totally sure of my capabilities. I felt like a total novice compared to everyone I worked with. I went to the dentist last week and I said I was an actress, and everyone's like, 'Ooohhh.' It still feels weird to me."

Even her biggest fans, however, probably don't know all the fascinating facts about the captivating actress. Read on to discover the untold truth of Daisy Ridley.

Jumping aboard one of Hollywood's biggest franchises is something few have ever experienced, and, for Daisy Ridley, it's been a wild ride. "I had no sense of what I was getting into. No sense of what was really going to happen or what anything would entail," she told V Magazine. "I hadn't done a film before, so it was a whole new thing. It's such a crazy thing the first time around."

Making her second Star Wars film, she explained, actually helped to ground her after the craziness of the first. "My head was so f**ked after the first one came out," she added. "It was strange getting back into it, and it felt familiar and comforting. I suddenly felt really seen in a way [after the first Star Wars], which was so weird. Then, back at work, you're just you and it's not a big deal." She explained, "You're just at work: You're doing your job and everyone else is doing their job. It's just me being me. I just really liked being part of something where you're one of a whole. When filming, you're always part of a thing."

At the time of this writing, Daisy Ridley is believed to be dating (and possibly engaged to) British actor Tom Bateman, with whom she co-starred in Murder on the Orient Express. However, she has neither confirmed nor denied the rumored relationship, and she has continually refused to offer any public comment about her personal life.

As she explained in an interview with Net-a-Porter's Porter magazine, this is simply another way to maintain a certain degree of privacy while living in the fishbowl of celebrity. "The things I was initially happy to talk about have changed," she said. "The boundaries around what's yours and what's other people's start to drift."

In a November 2019 interview with Marie Claire, she addressed engagement rumors after being spotted wearing a diamond ring on a very specific finger. "The thing is, I've never talked about my personal life," she said when asked about the rumored engagement ring. "So I won't talk about it now. I'm so aware of how much information about my life is out there..."

Prior to cutting ties with social media, Daisy Ridley opened up about her health in a lengthy 2016 Instagram post detailing her struggles with endometriosis, a painful and debilitating condition in which "tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus ... grows outside your uterus," as explained by Mayo Clinic. And endometriosis can also affect the condition of one's skin.

"At 15 I was diagnosed with endometriosis," she wrote in the now-deleted post, as reported by Entertainment Tonight. "One laparoscopy, many consultations and eight years down the line, pain was back (more mild this time!) and my skin was THE WORST." She explained, "I have polycystic ovaries and that's why it's bad," adding, "I hate wearing makeup but I currently don't want to leave the house without it on."

She concluded by offering her advice to other women experiencing health issues. "My point is, to any of you who are suffering with anything, go to a doctor; pay for a specialist; get your hormones tested, get allergy testing; keep on top of how your body is feeling and don't worry about sounding like a hypochondriac," she concluded.

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens was heralded by fans and critics alike as a thrilling return to form for the franchise, the 2017 followup The Last Jedi was not met with nearly as much love. In fact, it was even hit with backlash. Some fans were profoundly unhappy with the franchise's shift to strong female characters and more ethnic diversity, and actress Kelly Marie Tran was particularly targeted by social media trolls.

Speaking with USA Today, Daisy Ridley admitted she had an inkling that the film would wind up generating such polarizing opinions. "I wasn't surprised, no. It's just a different thing. Everyone's going to have an opinion now anyway on the internet, but I also think it's fair. If people hold something incredibly dear and think they know how it should be and it's not like that, it's fair for people to think they were done wrong." She continued, "It doesn't mean they were — ultimately, [The Last Jedi director] Rian [Johnson]'s a filmmaker and one person can't dictate how a film is supposed to be — but freedom of expression, sure."

A "Mary Sue" is a trope in media in which a female character is so perfectly idealized that she appears to be utterly flawless, boasting incredible skills and abilities that seemingly arise out of thin air. When The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015, a debate arose over whether Ridley's character, Rey, was an example of a Mary Sue.

Ridley, however, rejected that suggestion during an interview with MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast, even going so far as to dismiss the entire trope as being sexist. "The Mary Sue thing in itself is sexist because it's a name of a woman," Ridley explained. "Everyone was saying that Luke had exactly the same thing. I think Rey is incredibly vulnerable, and nothing she's doing is for the greater good. She's just doing what she thinks is the right thing. And she doesn't want to do some of it, but she feels compelled to do it. So for me, I was just confused."

The memory of filming her final scene for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a somewhat fuzzy one for Daisy Ridley, who admitted she was overcome with emotion at the time.

"I just can't remember it," she admitted in an interview with People's Couch Surfing. "I remember [director] J.J. [Abrams] making a speech and I sort of remember a couple things he said, like I'm always on time, which I appreciate him saying. And then he went to pass me the mic and I was the last person to wrap. It was my final shot ... and I'm just crying in the shot." She added, "It was incredibly dramatic."

She elaborated on that final scene in an interview with British GQ. "The scene was me being very sad," she teased. "Let's just say it was not hard to be upset in that scene ... I did this embarrassing speech that I can't remember. It was so sad."

Actors have been known to steal props, costumes, and other items from their films as keepsakes, and Daisy Ridley admitted to similar thievery. During an appearance on NBC's A Little Late with Lilly Singh, she explained that while several of her male co-stars have "stolen stuff," she's "been so well-behaved the whole time." But when her Star Wars journey was coming to an end, she felt the time was right to grab a memento. "This time I was like, 'I'm gonna take something,'" she said, revealing she grabbed "the ring that [she wears] for Dark Rey." She went on, "And I may have been given a sword made of light, which is very exciting."

There was, however, one more item she had her eye on. "I'm going to ask for my costume, but I haven't asked for that yet." Host Lilly Singh quickly asked, "Okay, what are you gonna do with it? Are you gonna hang it in your house or you gonna sell it on eBay? Be real."

"Well," Ridley quipped, "it's basically if I never work again, it could help me pay for myself."