Its late in the afternoon, and shes just wrapped the photo shoot for this piece.

Her hair is laid soft and straight to just beneath her chin; her eyes are liquid and lined.

Ill call you when Im done.

Jurnee Smollet posing in a black lacey dress and black boots

My sister, she confirms with a smile, draping one leg over the other.

There are sixSmollett siblings, and Jurnee falls right in the middle.

They are a mighty tribe of activists, chefs, and creatives who are fiercely loyal to each other.

Jurnee Smollet posing in a black lacey dress

This [was the] period when my parents were splitting up, and it was quite tumultuous.

My mother is anactivist.

You cant say that sh*t to me.

Jurnee Smollett in a black suit and white shirt pushing her hair back with one hand, displaying her …

I was like, This is my chance.

You think Im here to be the reader?

Washington called her manager the next day.

Jurnee Smollett in a black suit with suspenders that she is pulling on and a white shirt

A lot of people told Smollett not to take the part.

People were very critical of the concept of doing a slave drama, she says.

This is actually a prison bust.

Jurnee Smollett in a black suit and white shirt sitting on the floor

This is the story of the revolution.

This is the story of the uprising.

This is the story of our folks who fought back.

And I was like, Ooh, Im hungry for that.

It was a shared hunger, says Green.

We were both digging for that ancestral feeling of thats it, she tells me over the phone.

They are merciful kin, ancestral sistren.

This has long been the expectation of Black women.

But there are no parts of me left.

While working onLovecraft Country, Smolletts world got very intense, very quickly.

Everything was breaking apart, she says of the time period in which she filmedLovecraft Country.

While Leti is audacious, she also walks through the world alone.

Thats her attachment style.

Shesan avoidant, Smollett says.

Jurnee is not, Jurnee tends to attract people who are avoidants.

But I think honestly, my attachment style might beanxious avoidant.

I might have a little bit of avoidant in me.

Its wild, because I can absolutely relate to that sense of isolation.

Like, my heart was put on the floor after I gave it to this person.

They smashed it, then they drove a bus over it, and then pressed reverse, she says.

You go through all of the emotions all your stuff just comes up, right?

Like, are you worthy?

It was early in my pregnancy, she says.

She just held her hands on my stomach, and during that prayer, I got a vision.

And I saw my adult son, and I didnt know I was having a son.

I didn’t know what the gender was, because it was too soon to know.

But I saw him.

Our eyes lock, and then we keep it moving, as Black women do.

When she was pregnant with Hunter, Smolletts approach to acting shifted.

Before, shed accepted that a bit of somatic weathering comes with the job.

I felt obligated to not stay in character, like to protect him, she says of her son.

And I talked to him a lot [I said] OK.

Were about to do this.

Green wrote the pregnancy into the script and allowed Smolletts midwife on set.

She went into labor nine days after filming wrapped.

I ask how her heart is now.

Oh, that’s a good question, she says.

I think my heart is healing.

Im in a season of rapid transition and growth.

I find myself pouring everything into my art and into Hunter.

She grins, a bit goofily.

You know what Im going to say, right?