Gwyneth Paltrow had concerns about taking time off to be with her children, Apple, 4 and Moses, 2. While in Cannes to promote her new movie Two Lovers, she expressed her concern that there would be no room left for her in Hollywood when she was trying to come back.

“I really did not know if there would be a place for me,” said Paltrow. “Jodie Foster was right, especially if you are a woman and especially if you are not 25. Hollywood is pretty cutthroat, and everybody has a short memory. There is always someone who is younger or hotter or prettier. I was very realistic of that fact there would not be room for me,” said Paltrow. “I definitely knew I had lost my place.”

But then she landed the role in Two Lovers in which she costars with Joaquin Phoenix. She said “It has given me a lifeline, because I had taken a long time off work, going from being a mother at home for a long time, which was the greatest time in my life, but also feel like an artist again … that was a gift for me.”