Zoe Saldaña cemented her status as one of Hollywood's most dynamic talents with her Oscar win this past Sunday. Her Best Supporting Actress win for her role as the attorney Rita in Emilia Pérez was the result of her very first Academy Award nomination(!). It was also the cherry on top of an extraordinary awards season cake, during which she collected a SAG Award, a Critics Choice Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA. Prior to taking the awards circuit by storm, she was a force in some of the highest-grossing films of all time. Think: the Avatar franchise, multiple Star Treks, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers: Infinity War (aka, the MCU).
More: Actress Zoe Saldaña on bringing her multifaceted identity to her roles (The Treatment, 2025)
For her Treat, Saldaña shares her most cherished and transformative role to date: motherhood. It’s a journey that constantly challenges and inspires her to grow. Her kids, or her "three roommates who don’t pay rent," are a daily source of motivation to become a better parent.
More: Marco Perego on making his new short film Dovecote with wife Zoe Saldaña (The Treatment, 2024)
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
For me, motherhood has impacted me a whole lot because I've gained these three new roommates in my life that don't pay any rent and will always be by my side. They will guide me as much as I will guide them.
I think that the treat, for me, of motherhood is how my children are raising me as much as I'm raising them. We are raising kids that are very determined and are very outspoken. As they take up space, they learn to set their boundaries, and they learn to stand up for themselves. Most of the time, they're standing up for themselves with their parents because we're their safest harbor.
I'm just learning so much about what it is to truly respect another human being from the moment they're born.
We don't have a clear idea of where that balance is, so we're taking it day by day, one event at a time. But we really do let them know how proud we are of them when they truly stand up for themselves and they speak up with love and respect, but firmness. Most of the time, that has to do with letting us know when we've taken it too far, when we haven't been paying attention, when we favored one over the other, or we didn't listen and the situation was different… we had a different idea of an event that was affecting them. I just love discovering them and rediscovering them.
When things have come up to the surface of my childhood, not making them my healers is very important for me. If there's something that has been unresolved in my life, I have to make time to figure that out because they need better of me. They need me to be a better version of myself every day. They deserve it.
So motherhood, to me, has been and will be the best role of my life. It doesn't come with rewards. It comes with thank yous every now and then, and we take them. We take them.