Hayley Atwell as Christopher Robin’s Wife: An Emotionally Intelligent Mom

Disney’s Christopher Robin is playing EVERYWHERE so if you haven’t had a chance to see it, hurry up – you’re missing out!

I had the privilege to walk the Christopher Robin red carpet and attend the World Premiere at Walt Disney Studios and to interview the cast of this magical reimagining with our cherished Hundred Acre Wood friends: Winnie The Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo.

In Disney’s Christopher Robin, we also get a chance to visit with Christopher Robin, and we get to explore a stage of his life we are not yet familiar with, one that brings new dilemmas, and new characters.

Hayley Atwell plays Evelyn Robin, wife to Christopher Robin in the new live action. In Disney’s Christopher Robin, they have a daughter, Madeline. Evelyn Robin is a mother and a wife and I could relate so much to this character that it was quite difficult to sit in this interview with Haley Atwell without bursting into tears.

It was definitely my favorite interview. Haley Atwell is remarkable: I was mesmerized by her beauty, her confidence, and the wise words she spoke. She was also quite funny and described herself as “childlike” — swoon!

She told us how she didn’t feel any pressure playing Christopher Robin’s wife, because “she’s not in the books, so she is a new character,” and lit up reminiscing about “the gentle atmosphere on the set.”

This is the happiest job I’ve ever done. You can’t really do a film like this and have a bad time. You can’t!

Haley Atwell shared her thoughts on the finished film and, just like I said in my spoiler free review, Disney’s Christopher Robin is true to the Winnie The Pooh stories and bears messages that we all need to hear! (Pun intended LOL)

I saw it by myself … I started crying in the opening credit and what I felt coming out of it was the feeling of what a wonderful antidote this film is at the moment because without it being too sentimental it’s quite profound as the books are.

When I was reading them as s child there’s a sweet, endearing quality about it. These animals come alive as an adult reading it and the but also the profound simplicity of it just made me feel that this is already a wonderful film to be telling now.

It’s…very refreshing.

It’s basically saying you’re enough and I just wanna hang out with you as you are. I’m a big fan of it.

I’m a big fan too, and it came to my life at a time when I desperately needed it. I think every mom needs to watch this film, especially if you’re struggling in your marriage, like I am right now.

When Hayley Atwell started describing Evelyn Robin’s struggles, my broken heart sank.

We wanted any scenes or any moments with Evelyn for her to be someone who had compassion to know that this man who’s come back from war, who’s struggling to provide for his family, whose heart’s in the right place he’s struggling within himself rather than anything that she could probably criticize him for and she’s taking on the pain of what’s happening in the child as well.

Dealing with your own pain as a woman is hard enough, but realizing that your child, your daughter is suffering is overwhelming for a mom. While I knew in that moment that I do want to be compassionate, and understand that my husband is at war with himself and with his addiction, I know that my priority is to protect my daughters in every way.

As Hayley Atwell went on, it became harder and harder to contain my tears. I tried so hard to tell myself “conceal it, don’t feel it, don’t let it show,” but the pain was so fresh and so deep that it just had to roll down my cheeks and all I could do was quickly wipe the evidence.

Rather than in any way seeming unsympathetic or moaning or whining or anything like that, she’s taking care of her own feelings and experiences in this, feeling lost and left behind by her husband but knowing that he’s in a lot of pain as well.

I felt so grateful to be in this room, hearing these wise words, and surrounded by supportive, accepting, and caring people, because it certainly helped me process my feelings of helplessness, worthlessness, and hopelessness, in a healthier way.

Though Hayley Atwell doesn’t have any children of her own, she has a strong sense of what it takes to be a strong, loving mother, a positive mom.

I have a strong mother and I have strong women in my life. I think it’s from those experiences of being with older women who set the way and the safety that I have felt from them at times when feeling the world is a big place and the calm voice of reason and strength but a gentleness that comes with that is something that I’ve experienced.

Calm. Gentle. Strength. I’ve been praying to embody these virtues so I can offer them to my daughters, and having these magical days away from the storm helped me ground myself and get closer to that goal.

Although she was describing Christopher Robin’s wife, I felt she was reminding me the way I need to be for me, for my daughters, in this heartbreaking experience in our family.

She’s not passive. She doesn’t sit there, allowing things to happen but she also doesn’t attack him for it. I think she’s aware of the complexities of his situation and also being heartbroken about the effects it’s having on her daughter but also not turning her daughter against her father as well. And for me that was a very emotionally intelligent character choice to make and one that was much more realistic. I think that’s what parents have to do and have to struggle with… how do we help our children navigate these very emotionally, tricky times with an open heart and able to process pain in a loving and healthy way.

I also related to the way she spoke about Pooh, who turned out to be her favorite character in the film, and who also acts in an emotionally intelligent way in a moment of pain. 

Pooh to me ended up being like the Zen master because he’s almost like an unknown guru without realizing it, which makes him so endearing because he doesn’t have that self-awareness to know what he’s saying. He’s pure love without agenda.

And what makes me cry… is the way Pooh processes pain is that he just takes it in like a dog would, in an unconditional way and instead of attacking back or being defensive about it or finding ways to seek revenge or walk away he just absorbs that pain but still loves Christopher Robin and that seems to be a very human quality between people that love each other and a very necessary quality to our own civilization and for our own sense of belonging to each other. The ability to absorb pain from someone who knows that they can cause us pain but see beyond that and I would just find that… was so moving and so evolved of Pooh without him realizing it that it made me fall in love with Pooh.

I have seen Disney’s Christopher Robin three times and I have cried so much all three times, because it’s not only a beautiful film, but one that touches your heart so deeply that it can potentially change your life.

Hayley Atwell is brilliant as Evelyn Robin and you will love her performance and her example!

Read my interview with Ewan McGregor (“Christopher Robin”) and  Jim Cummings (voice of “Winnie the Pooh” & “Tigger”), and stay tuned for more!

You can also connect with Disney Christopher Robin on Facebook, Disney Studios on Twitter, and Disney Studios on Instagram, and visit the Christopher Robin movie web page for more CHRISTOPHER ROBIN updates! The official hashtag for the film is #ChristopherRobin and our press event hashtag is #ChristopherRobinEvent.

How do you act like an emotionally intelligent mom? Share your answers in the comments below! CHRISTOPHER ROBIN is NOW in theaters everywhere. Make sure to take your family!

Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results and help others do the same. Dr. Elayna Fernández is a single mom of 4, an award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 5x TEDx speaker. She has spoken at the United Nations, received the President’s Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award, and was selected as one of the Top Impactful Leaders and a Woman of Influence by SUCCESS Magazine. Connect with Elayna at thepositivemom.com/ef and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.

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