Björk’s daughter Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney reveals she needed therapy after parents’ split
The actress daughter of pop star Björk has revealed she needed therapy to help deal with her parents’ public separation.
Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney, 19 — known as Doa — was at the centre of a dispute between her parents after her father, artist and film director Matthew Barney, took legal action against her mother in 2015.
Mr Barney claimed he was not getting his fair share of time with his daughter.
Doa is set to make her big-screen debut alongside her mother in director Robert Eggers’s forthcoming Viking epic The Northman, which also stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe.
In an interview with The Face magazine, Doa said therapy should be a universal right, explaining: “It’s a great tool to have and I’m a huge fan of it.
“There’s definitely been points in my life where I’ve needed it more than others, like with [my parents’] separation, and then just general, um happenings. But then it became a constant, staple thing.”
Doa said she felt she avoided the impact of their public disagreements at the time, but became aware of them later in life because they were documented in her parents’ work. She said: “I think I really escaped [most of that ]. I was really well protected through all of it. It was a weird age, for sure — I was 11 and 12. Luckily, they’re pretty niche when it comes to their audience!
“Fellow 12-year-olds weren’t really listening to Björk or looking at Matthew Barney’s art! So it wasn’t like my peers were conscious of it, which is what my parents were worried about. Obviously, that didn’t happen.” It was only a few years later that she became “really aware of it. And then it was, I guess, interesting to have this record of a really painful time,” she said. “And, honestly, I think it helped humanise the situation. That’s what artists do.”
Doa, who is also a filmmaker and singer, said her mother had supported her desire to be an actress and she returned the favour on the set of The Northman, even though they do not appear in a scene together.
“However, I was there for her one scene and held her hand,” Doa said. “She was also there for my big scene and we supported each other through that. That was a long, long scene to shoot! And she was a champ.”
The Face Issue 10 is available to buy now at theface.com/buy-magazine
