Anna Paquin was seen using a cane to help her get around at the New York City premiere of her new film A Bit Of Light, following a two-year health battle with an undisclosed illness.
The 41-year-old actress, who was joined by her husband and former True Blood costar Stephen Moyer, made her public return after years out of the spotlight.
It has been nearly a year and a half since her last red carpet appearance in October 2022, and the rarely spotted star was last pictured in public back in 2019.
During the event at the Crosby Street Hotel, Anna admitted the last two years had been ‘difficult’ for her, while alluding to recent health struggles that had impacted her mobility and left her suffering from some speech difficulties, according to People.
‘It hasn’t been easy,’ she said. This appears to be the first time Paquin has publicly revealed that she has been battling health issues.
Anna Paquin, 41, was seen using a cane to help her get around at the New York City premiere of her new film A Bit Of Light on Wednesday, where she was joined by husband Stephen Moyer
In A Bit Of Light, Anna plays a recovering alcoholic who reunites with her estranged father (played by Ray Winstone) after she loses custody of her daughters, who go to live with her ex-husband and his current partner; still from A Bit Of Light trailer
Paquin is the second-youngest Academy Award winner in history. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Jane Campion’s film The Piano in 1994, when she was just 11
However, a source was optimistic that Anna could recover fully from the undisclosed condition.
Despite her health issues, which she only alluded to briefly, Anna looked sensational in an angular black sequined dress that matched her 54-year-old husband’s all-black look.
The lovebirds put on a unified front at the premiere for the new film, which she stars in and Stephen directed.
She plays a recovering alcoholic who reunites with her estranged father (played by Ray Winstone) after she loses custody of her daughters, who go to live with her ex-husband and his current partner.
The film and television star — who became the second-youngest person to win an Academy Award in 1994 after nabbing the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Jane Campion’s classic The Piano at age 11 — sounded excited to be back in front of the camera and working on a small independent production.
‘My first love was independent filmmaking,’ she shared. ‘That’s how I entered the film industry. I was working with people who were all about telling stories and telling them with integrity and truth.’
Anna added that she was grateful for her husband Stephen’s help, both on and off set.
‘He’s my favorite person to play with,’ she said, before making it clear that she was drawn to his artistic talents when it came to signing up for the film.
‘It hasn’t been easy,’ the actress, who has reportedly also had speech difficulties recently, told the publication. However, a source was optimistic that Anna could recover fully from the undisclosed condition
She said she was excited to work with her husband as director because she started her career on similar independent films. She added that her experience as a mother helped her to sympathize with her character’s loss of custody
She wore a black sequined dress with large shoulder pads while carrying a matching cane. Stephen was also in all black with a tasteful suit and a tie-free black shirt
‘I’m not sentimental when it comes to work,’ she added, laughing.
Anna explained that, while her lead character’s struggles with addiction in A Bit Of Light were foreign to her, her experience being the mother of 11-year-old fraternal twins with Moyer helped her to tap into the emotional struggles of a mother separated from her children.
She also shares two stepchildren with Moyer — a son from his first marriage and a daughter from a previous relationship.
‘Not everyone ends up having the journey with motherhood that they have hoped or had planned,’ Anna said. ‘We’re all flawed and imperfect, and Ella is kind of on some level repeating some sort of familial patterns as far as stuffing feelings down.’
She was able to simulate her character’s pain, as it was ‘very relatable because there’s so many ways that people can get in their own way, or sort of learn to cope with trauma.’
Anna and Stephen were brought together by their hit supernatural series, True Blood.
The HBO horror-romance, which ran for seven seasons from 2008 to 2014, was adapted from Charlaine Harris’ popular Southern Vampire Mysteries, with Paquin starring as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in rural Louisiana who strikes up a relationship with a vampire (Moyer) in an alternate present in which supernatural beings walk among us.
Paquin and Moyer met while working on the steamy series — which was infamous for its copious sex scenes — and the on-screen lovers soon struck up an off-camera romance.
Moyer, an English actor hailing from Brentwood, Essex, revealed on Watch What Happens Life that he and his future wife first met while doing a screen test ahead of the filming on True Blood.
‘We were both single at the time, and there was just this kind of spark,’ he recalled.
Anna looked her best in a slim black long-sleeve dress covered in shimmering sequins.
Anna and Stephen began dating — and got married in 2010 — while playing human and vampire lovers on the hit HBO series True Blood (pictured)
It featured edgy padded shoulders and a skirt that reached halfway down her thighs.
She matched the look with black stockings and black nail polish, along with short leather boots, and even her all-black cane suited the look.
The Margaret star wore her brunette hair swept back with a slight bump and tied tightly, which put the spotlight on her winning smile.
Stephen complemented her monochrome ensemble with one of his own featuring a tasteful black suit with slim peaked lapels and a tie-free black shirt.
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