Jemima Kirke: A Day In The Life Of The ‘Girls’ Star

You’ll know her for her role as the free-spirited Jessa in Lena Dunham’s hit TV show Girls (which has just returned for its fifth - and penultimate - season), but Jemima Kirke is also a talented artist, outspoken women’s rights activist, mother of two and all-round cool girl. Phew.

As well as being a Girls girl, she’s also clearly a ‘girl’s girl’ (sorry…) Speaking to online lifestyle and e-commerce platform Semaine, she said: ‘I think my most favourite quality in a woman is a woman who likes to hang out with other women, because there are a bunch that don’t.’And what does success mean to Jemima? ‘Success obviously means lots of different things. I’m just going to say happiness […] It’s such a cliché but…’

How does Jemima balance her various passions and projects? The Girls star has shared her daily routine with Semaine and Grazia, and it starts at an eye-wateringly early 4.30am…

4:30AM

My day really starts when my kids wake me up. One comes down at 4:30am and gets in bed and it’s really nice and then around 5am another one comes in and it’s not nice. There’s no space and they’re both on top of me. They don’t want my husband. Then we go through a sort of dance of trying to get them back in their bed or whatever and then I end up giving them a snack and something to do and I go back to bed for an hour while they play.

7AM

I get up properly. I take both kids up to their rooms and get them dressed and brush their teeth. We get that done because their rooms are on the top floor and it’s the worst running up and down getting stuff. When you live in a house with floors you’ve got to be really strategic. Then I’ll get myself dressed, and we go downstairs and I put on the TV for them while I make them breakfast. Then I’m a waitress for the next hour.

8AM

They eat like monsters in the morning. They each have a smoothie, they have scrambled eggs, they have rice toast. They love rice toast because it’s really thick and filling. And then they want more food. If we have time, if it’s a weekend, I’ll make pancakes. They don’t eat until like 3 o’clock after that, but they love to eat breakfast. Then while they’re eating I make their lunches for school. If it’s my morning to take them to school I get them into the stroller and we go to school. I drop them off and then my day starts.

9:30AM

I’m home by 9:30. Then, what do I do? I do emails. I have a couple more cups of coffee. Hopefully I will catch my husband and we’ll talk. We’ll have a cup of coffee and a cigarette or something.

10:30AM

Then most of the time I’ll come to the studio. I don’t love coming too early; I’m not a morning person. For some reason I’ve never been a studio person in the morning. I don’t know why. I’ll do errands and stuff and then by noon I’m here and I stay here until 5.

5PM

I’m out of here at 5 and I walk home because it is a nice long walk and I love it. It takes me about half an hour. I walk really slowly because I look in every window, I’m like a 5 year old.

6PM

It’s night routine at 6 o’clock with the kids, because the nanny picks them up from school. I put them in front of the TV again. Sometimes I watch TV with them. I’ll do emails.

7:30PM

We do bath time and then we play until about 8/8:30. Then they go to bed and I lie down with one and if my husband’s around he’ll lie down with the other one. Or we’ll all just fall asleep together and I’ll move one from there. They’re obsessed with me at night.

Shop from an exclusive edit of Jemima’s favourite products, check out her reading list and take a look inside her studio over at www.semaine.com