Emily Blunt Has Had A Head-Turning Transformation

Emily Blunt has it all. She's hugely famous but has her feet firmly on the ground. She's a mom of two but has a globetrotting career most actors could only dream of. She's insanely likable but with a dry British wit that proves she's no Hollywood bimbo. Blunt knows she's breathing rarefied air as one of the most successful stars in the world, too — and she's making the most of every second. "I'm just really enjoying my life and the way my career seems to be evolving. I don't find myself suffering with very much anxiety anymore, and I'm not worrying about when the next job will come around. It's lovely," she told Woman & Home in 2016.

But the "Jungle Cruise" and "Mary Poppins Returns" star's rise to the top hasn't been without the odd hiccup. There are a few things you may not know about this superstar, like her once being lined up as the next Britney Spears or the serious stutter that plagued much of her pre-teen and teen years. Much of why Blunt's life story isn't plastered across every tabloid is because she's made a point of not being the most visible star in the world. At the time of writing, Blunt (whose side-by-side pics prove she has aged like fine wine since her original "The Devil Wears Prada" days) doesn't have public social media accounts. And she's quick to remind the world she's so much more than the stunning, well put-together fashionista we see on the red carpet. "People can make assumptions based on what they see on the red carpet, but that's not my life. There's nothing real about it," she told Time. Her head-turning transformation into one of the highest-paid actors in the world, though? That's oh so real.

Native Londoner Emily Olivia Laura Blunt entered the world in 1983 to parents Oliver Blunt (a prestigious London lawyer) and Joanna Blunt, a teacher. But while her upbringing was charmed, it wasn't without tough times. Blunt told Vulture she struggled with a stutter that was at its worst between the ages of seven and 14. "A stutter is like an imposter living in your body. Who doesn't pay rent. And completely and utterly misrepresents who you are as a person," she explained during Variety's Power of Women Presented by Lifetime event in 2023.

The youngster started performing in school productions aged around 12 and found that acting contributed to her overcoming her stutter. "When I acted, I didn't seem to stutter, or stutter as much. So it was a bit of a gateway into this freedom of speech that I kind of didn't have as a kid," Blunt said on "The Love of Maya."  She enjoyed using her imagination and the escapism pretending to be someone else provided, but admitted she didn't consider acting as a career until much later.

Also, when Emily Blunt was around 12, those around her had a totally different career in mind — a pop star. Blunt told The Sydney Morning Herald that a teacher encouraged her to pursue singing, which led her to record a demo and sign a recording contract. But the pre-teen put the brakes on her singing career before it truly began. "I got terrified and pulled out because I felt they were wanting me to be like Britney Spears. And I was like, 'I can't dance, and I don't sing like Britney Spears'. I just felt it was snowballing too fast and it wasn't ultimately what I wanted to do," she recalled. "[The demo] was a pop song and it seems so unlike me now. It's like a different person," she added.

But Blunt didn't immediately turn her attention to acting. She had plans to attend London's Westminster School (the same school as her sister), study modern languages at college, and work as a translator for the United Nations. But that didn't happen, as Blunt didn't have the grades to get into the prestigious school. "I remember at 16 being devastated, and my life was over and I was so sad. So I went to my second choice school, which had a good drama department," she recalled to CinemaBlend. 

What she initially thought was the worst thing ever soon turned out to be the best, as attending her second-choice school pushed the teenager to consider a career as an actor. "If I had gone to Westminster, I wouldn't be doing this job, guaranteed. At the time it seems devastating, but obviously it was meant to happen that I never went there," she said.

It didn't take Emily Blunt long to kickstart a successful acting career and rub shoulders with A-listers. At her second-choice school, she met her drama teacher, "Harry Potter" actor Adrian Rawlins. Rawlins was so taken with Blunt and her acting talent that he got her signed with his agent. At 18, Blunt landed her first big acting role. The major gig was in London's West End, starring alongside Judi Dench in "The Royal Family." "I was so green. I knew nothing. I don't think I knew what I was doing for the first few years," Blunt told The Guardian. She later told Elle she learned a lot from the veteran actor that she'd carry with her the rest of her career. "She was really the lily pad to everything else," Blunt said. She also recalled a time Dench scolded her for being late, which made her too scared to ever be tardy again. 

Blunt soon turned her attention to TV and showed a particular penchant for period pieces. She landed roles in a number of notable British TV shows, including "Foyle's War" and "Poirot," and the TV movie "Henry VIII." Off-screen, though, the up-and-coming actor wasn't quite so proper. Speaking to The Guardian, she described herself as the more rebellious of her four siblings. "[I was] the naughty one who wanted to go clubbing on holiday," she said, recalling being chaperoned on vacation by her more straight-laced sister Felicity Blunt.

Though Emily Blunt had success pre-"The Devil Wears Prada," it was nothing compared to the star power she gained after appearing in the fashion blockbuster alongside Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. Blunt told Vulture her character and namesake Emily was initially intended to be American, but producers loved the way she delivered the cutting lines and cast her. The movie grossed over $326 million worldwide and instantly made Blunt a household name. "It changed everything. I'd been working, but no one knew who I was, and he was so sure that he wanted me in the movie, from a taped reading. That meant a huge amount to me," she'd later tell Elle, admitting the Hollywood movie also helped her break-free of TV period drama roles. 

The role also changed the star's look. It amped up Blunt's show-stopping style transformation, as her character wore countless daring designer pieces in the movie. Blunt also masked her natural color and dyed her hair red.

It wasn't just Blunt's major movie role that got her in the headlines. In 2005, she started dating Michael Bublé after meeting backstage at his gig (she told GQ U.K. he had no idea who she was at the time). They made no secret of their romance, though ("I get tears in my eyes when I see him onstage. It's overwhelming," she gushed to People) and lived together in Vancouver. But they split in 2008. People claimed their breakup was due to busy schedules, but rumors of infidelity were splashed across the headlines. Blunt was asked about the speculation in 2015 on "The Howard Stern Show" and responded in part (via Cosmopolitan U.K.), "I never want to talk about it."

Following the heartbreak of Emily Blunt's split with Michael Bublé, she found love again in 2008 with another celebrity. She met fellow actor John Krasinski after a mutual friend introduced them during a chance encounter at a restaurant. Though she'd never seen Krasinski in his career defining role as Jim Halpart in "The Office," the two seriously hit it off. So much so, they didn't waste much time in getting serious. They got engaged in 2009 and married the following year in a lavish ceremony at George Clooney's Italian home. Amid their sweet romance, Blunt had organically moved into Krasinski's Los Angeles home, despite intending to live in England with her sister around the time they met. "I didn't ever see it as a move to the US, but gradually more and more of my stuff just accumulated at his house," she told Harper's Bazaar U.K.

Despite the various divorce rumors that have swirled around Blunt and Krasinski, they haven't stopped gushing over one another. "Meeting John really changed my life. When I feel the support that I have from him, I feel invincible. There's someone behind you on your good days, and someone in front of you on your bad days," she told InStyle of their enviable romance in 2013. Seven years later, she shared a similar sentiment with People. "Having John's support is everything, because we are each other's confidant. That shared understanding has really been a very vital anchor for me," she said.

In 2014, Emily Blunt embarked on of the biggest life changes — becoming a mom. She and John Krasinski welcomed a daughter named Hazel that year. She'd later tell The Guardian that becoming a mom dramatically changed her attitude to life as she found herself asking "Who cares?" a lot more in daily situations.

But the star didn't slow down amid her pregnancy. In fact, she took on new acting challenges. Blunt was expecting Hazel while filming the musical movie "Into The Woods," which marked her first singing role on the big screen. "It was exciting and challenging and daunting. It was all of those things. Ultimately, I feel like my life was so enhanced by this experience," she told Playbill.

In amongst her busy new family life and return to her singing roots, Blunt also found the time to become a U.S. citizen. She wasn't exactly filled with emotion over her new nationality though, despite marrying an American and having half-American children. Blunt joked on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" she felt sad about the situation and was still proud of her heritage. She later told The Sunday Times, "It's mainly for tax reasons. I didn't want to renounce my queen."

Emily Blunt had another string of major life changes in 2016. She told Marie Claire she and her family had swapped living in California for New York, where she felt more at home. "[L.A.] felt like the antithesis of what I had grown up in, a place with a sense of community and culture and real spontaneity and vibrancy. And I love walking cities. So moving to Brooklyn really felt like home to me. I think my soul was better suited to Brooklyn. I really love it," she said.

Amid her bi-coastal move, Blunt become a mom again. The family of three became four when she and John Krasinski welcomed a second daughter, Violet. Her increasingly busy family life encouraged Blunt to take a hard look at her career. She told Luxury London she she'd started only taking roles she was truly passionate about and would seriously considered how each gig would affect her family life before signing on. That included the likes of the drama movie "The Girl on the Train" and the fantasy offering "The Huntsman: Winter's War." 

She elaborated on how motherhood changed her while speaking to Woman & Home. "I feel so much stronger now because I'm aware that I have a greater responsibility in life. Acting is hard work but looking into your child's eyes, even after she's kept you up all night, isn't at all a strain. It's the most wonderful thing," she gushed.

In 2018, Emily Blunt appeared in one of her most successful movie franchises to date, which just so happened to be the brain child of her husband. John Krasinski directed, starred in, and wrote the screenplay for the thriller "A Quiet Place," which Blunt took on the co-lead role in. The movie grossed over $340 million at the global box office and saw Blunt win her first Actor Award (then known as the SAG Awards). The happily married couple would team up again for 2020's "A Quiet Place Part II."

That same year, she took on another of her most notable roles as her career continued to go from strength to strength. Blunt took on the lead role in Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns," playing the iconic character originally made famous by Julie Andrews. Unsurprisingly considering she had so many big movies under her belt, the star was making serious bank. In 2020, the Brit ranked in sixth place on Forbes' list of the highest paid woman actors in the world.

But while Blunt had enough money to do whatever she wanted, she wasn't looking to spend her millions on cosmetic procedures. The star addressed her beauty transformation with Woman & Home, making it clear she wanted to stay au naturel. "I love imperfection – I appreciate that every line on someone's face bears a story, and is the result of experience," she said. "In Hollywood, people are suffocated by plastic surgery, but striving for an impassive perfection isn't something I ever found beautiful or have tried to achieve myself. [...] women who spend too much time trying to look perfect lose some of the magic about them," she added.

Emily Blunt started producing in 2022 when she turned her attention back to TV to co-executive produce and star in the miniseries "The English." She opened up about moving behind the camera in an interview with Elle, sharing, "Having more ownership, building something from the ground up, and then seeing it fully realized is completely wonderful." But while Blunt's career was still thriving, she announced a surprising move — a break. Speaking on "Table For Two," the actor revealed she was taking a year away from acting to spend more time with her young daughters. "I just need to be there for all of them for a good stretch, and I just felt that in my bones," she said, referring to wanting to put her children to bed and wake them up the next morning. The "Edge of Tomorrow" star also explained that she'd been purposefully taking on projects that didn't steal too much of her time or energy away from her family.

The star made the career pause announcement around the same time "Oppenheimer," one of the biggest movies of the year, hit movie theaters. The historical movie earned Blunt her first Oscar nomination, as she was acknowledged in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 2024 ceremony. "It felt amazing. It's a big moment. We'd dropped the kids off at school and were walking home, and John [Krasinski] had the [Oscar nominations livestream] up on his phone, so I heard it in real time when they read it out. It was on a street corner in Brooklyn, and I did cry," she told Elle. Sadly, the star lost out on the prestigious gong to Da'Vine Joy Randolph for "The Holdover."

Emily Blunt was ready for a major sequel in 2026. The star again joined forces with Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci (who had become her brother-in-law after marrying Blunt's sister, Felicity Blunt in 2012) for "The Devil Wears Prada 2." "It feels surreal and poignant; it changed my life, that movie. So, it was very special coming back, for sure," she told Stylist of reprising her role. Blunt wore some of the best (and worst) looks on "The Devil Wears Prada 2" press tour and proved she'd had a major glow up since "The Devil Wears Prada"'s first premiere.

And she's not slowing down. In a 2025 interview with Elle, the multiple award winner admitted she hoped to keep working until her 80th birthday. But she wasn't making any set in stone career plans. "I like not knowing what's next. A lot of my life is encased—obviously, you never know what's around the corner with your family, with your babies, but I like to keep everything very secure. So the job offers me this outlet of the unknown, the wildness. That balance works really well for me," she said. 

But there's at least one project that's still on her bucket list. Blunt told A Rabbit's Foot she wanted to appear in a project that tells the story of a person with a stutter. "I would like to see more of the trauma of what it's like for kids and adults to live with," she said. And that would truly signify a full circle moment in the gorgeous transformation of this superstar.