Maria Bello Instagram – During my PAUSE I was travelling and unraveling the first half of my life and coming to terms with where I had put my energy. This time last year I went on a pilgrimage to the country of Benin to meet the real Woman King. I was deep in my PAUSE and felt a calling. I didn’t know why the story of the film The Woman King came through me. It was a long hard road getting that film made and in the end I did not have the capacity to see it through. I spent so much time and energy to get it to the screen but it felt as if it didn’t love me back. I left Hollywood disillusioned. But it was such a big part of the last ten years of my life so how could I come full circle? That’s when I decided to go with a friend to Benin to pay homage to the real woman king. And there she sat so regally, inviting us into her home to tell us the stories of her ancestors – The warriors who had gone before her and the first woman king whose spirit was passed down for generations and now resided in her. And she told me what I didn’t quite believe then – that I was a warrior as well. And that I would rise. I cried as she blessed my son and told me that the ancestors would keep my family safe. I came out of it letting go even more of a chapter of my life and career. I felt hope for the first time in a very long time. I felt the possibility that I could one day be a warrior rising from the ashes again.