Three months after giving birth to her first daughter, Naya Daphni, Israeli actress Dana Frieder returned to work for the first time and said the experience left her emotional. In an interview on "Late Night with Guy Pines" from a Bepanthen campaign set, she described herself as deeply in love with her baby and said the arrival of her daughter made her want more children.
Frieder said Naya was born during Operation "Raging Lion," while the hospital was being moved down to the parking garage, and described the delivery as happening amid sirens and missile strikes. "Only in Israel can you be in a reality where they are trying to kill us and we are bringing life," she said. She said she and her partner, Yehuda Levi, tried several names before settling on Naya, adding that it was clear she was not meant to be anything else.
Asked about Levi, she said he is currently away filming "The Amazing Race" and described him as a present, loving father who changes diapers, puts the baby to sleep and bathes her. Frieder said they have naturally divided the parenting, with her spending most of the time with the baby because it feels right right now, especially only three months after birth.
Frieder also rejected the image of herself as a laid-back, cool mother. "I am a stressed mother, not cool at all," she said, adding that she is very attentive to the baby's cries and is still new to motherhood. She said she now uses ChatGPT at night while breastfeeding, asking about gas, growth at three months, postpartum hormones, baby sleep and diapering. After spending years posting about fashion, food, culture and film on Instagram, she said her feed now is mostly about development stages and diapering. She said leaving Naya for work was physically and emotionally painful, but that after the day on set she felt it was time to ease up a little, and ended by saying, "I have no privilege to drag my feet... I need to put in the work."
