Daisy Ridley “couldn’t sleep” after backlash over John Boyega “privelege” comments

Daisy Ridley has opened up about the distress she felt following an 2019 interview in which she was asked about her “privilege” growing up compared to her Star Wars co-star John Boyega.

• READ MORE: Here’s every ‘Star Wars’ TV series and film in the works

Ridley starred as Rey alongside Boyega in three Star Wars outings, films The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

The comments, which were made in a Guardian interview, came after Ridley was asked by the interviewer about her “privileged” upbringing. The interviewer quizzed Ridley on “if she thinks it has been easier to be confident and navigate her celebrity because of the privilege in her life” including “boarding school and her upbringing.” Ridley attended Tring Park Performing Arts School in Hertfordshire on a scholarship.

The interviewer went on to write that Ridley felt there was “little difference between her experience and that of her co-star John Boyega, who grew up in south London to British Nigerian immigrant parents.”

Ridley said in the Guardian interview: “John grew up on a council estate in Peckham and I think me and him are similar enough that… no… Also, I went to a boarding school for performing arts, which was different.”

Now, in a new interview with The Telegraph, Ridley has opened up about the comments, claiming that her words were taken out of context.

She told the outlet: “I literally couldn’t sleep after that came out…because I felt like, honestly, it was a purposeful de-contextualising. I was reading it thinking, ‘that’s not what I meant, that’s not what I meant.’

“It was incredibly upsetting, and it’s interesting when you’ve spoken about something 100 times, and then just the lens changes slightly of how that’s viewed. I had always spoken about John and I’d always spoken about the two of us together, so that was really weird.”

Ridley is set to return to the Star Wars universe after it was announced in 2023 that she would be starring once more as Rey in a new film in the franchise. 

Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight was involved in the film, but there were recent reports that has had departed the production. 

Knight’s involvement was first announced in March 2023, when it emerged that he would be writing the screenplay for the movie, replacing Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, who had themselves left the project.

Variety previously reported that the film is intended to pick up the story after the events of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019), and will follow Rey’s efforts to open her own Jedi Academy. With this setback, however, it is unlikely the film will enter the production stage until the second half of 2025 at the earliest.

The film is still slated to be the directorial debut of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who directed episodes of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, and has picked up two Oscars for Best Documentary Short Film.

There is not a Star Wars film set for release until Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu in May 2026. Several others are also thought to be in development, including from directors Taika Waititi, Donald Glover, Patty Jenkins, Rian Johnson and James Mangold.

NME awarded The Rise Of Skywalker three stars on its release in 2019, writing: “Most who watch this film will have an enjoyable time. It’s exciting, surprisingly funny – special mention to C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), who nails zinger after zinger in a standout turn – and is stuffed with strong performances from its leading cast, especially John Boyega as Stormtrooper-turned-rebel Finn.”

“Nearly all the unanswered questions are resolved and Skywalker feels sufficiently satisfying as a final chapter. It’s taken 42 years to get here, but (for now) the circle is finally complete.”

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