Anna Kendrick hasn’t acted in a comedy for five years. There’s a tragic reason for it.

Warning: This post deals with domestic violence and could be triggering for some readers.

Anna Kendrick was born with a comedic sensibility that you can't teach.

From stealing scenes with her hilarious delivery in Twilight to her breakout roles in the Pitch Perfect trilogy and A Simple Favor, Kendrick's humour and bubbly demeanor can't help but shine through her roles.

But in the past five years, something has shifted in the actress.

In her latest film and directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, Kendrick plays a woman who dated a serial killer on a TV game show.

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Gone are the days of big-budget films and quirky rom-coms, Kendrick has gotten rather serious about what acting roles she chooses.

And she's ready to talk about what changed.

In her most candid interview to date, Kendrick has opened up about a seven-year abusive relationship.

On a new episode of Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast, the 39-year-old said that her ex-partner — who she has never named — was 'abusive' to her, but it took her years to realise what was going on.

"It didn't follow the traditional pattern," she said. "I was, like, reading all the articles and going, 'This doesn't look... like, some of it looks like how they're describing it, but not completely.'"

Kendrick said when she realised what was happening, she didn't know who was to blame.

"It was like an overnight switch... that went on for about a year," she said.

"It came out of absolutely nowhere, but was built on this foundation of, I had so much love and trust for that person, so I thought it had to be me," Kendrick continued.

"Like, if one of us is crazy, it must be me. So it was very, very difficult to actually go, 'No, I think this is him. I think this is his stuff'… I turned my life completely upside down trying to fix whatever was wrong with me."

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In one story, Kendrick shared how her ex would weaponise her own emotions against her.

"He told me one day [that] I was terrorising him, because I was just crying because I couldn't pretend that things were fine anymore, and I just started crying. And he screamed in my face, 'You're terrorising me.' But it was truly from the place of a person who believed that they were being terrorised."

It got to a stage where the couple consulted with a therapist, but the actress said they "just bought his stuff kind of hook, line, and sinker".

Since the end of their relationship, her therapist has reconsidered the dynamics at play between the couple

"I've had several sessions with him in the last several years where he's apologised to me because I think he realised what was going on, like, right toward the end," Kendrick said.

In one session, she said "something shifted" after she "yelled" at him.

"I sent the therapist an email being like, 'I'm so embarrassed. I'm so sorry. I know I need to control myself,'" she recalled. "And he called me, which he hadn't done before, and was like, 'No, I'm so proud of you.' And that's when I knew, like, 'Oh, something has shifted.'"

This isn't the first time Kendrick has spoken about the relationship.

Back in 2022, Anna played a character who hit close to home: a woman stuck in an abusive relationship in the movie Alice, Darling.

In a chat with People, she said the character "resonated" with her personal experience.

"I was coming out of a personal experience with emotional abuse and psychological abuse," she said.

"I was in a situation where I loved and trusted this person more than I trusted myself. So when that person is telling you that you have a distorted sense of reality and that you are impossible and that all the stuff that you think is going on is not going on, your life gets really confusing really quickly.

"And I was in a situation where, at the end, I had the unique experience of finding out that everything I thought was going on was in fact going on. So I had this kind of springboard for feeling and recovery that a lot of people don't get."

Anna Kendrick at the premiere of Netflix's Woman Of The Hour. Image: Getty.

At the time in 2022, Kendrick was concerned the experience was too fresh in her mind to play such a role in Alice, Darling.

"It was really surprising timing that we found this script at that moment in my life," she said.

"I remember my first Zoom meeting with Mary Nighy, the director, disclosing to her what I was going through. And I even said to her, 'This all happened very recently. In fact, it happened so recently that if the movie was shooting in a month, I probably shouldn't do it.' But it was many, many months away. So I wasn't in danger of re-traumatising myself."

The following year, she spoke more in an interview with Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert.

"About six years in, about somewhere around there, I remember telling my brother, when things had first kind of gone down, 'I'm living with a stranger. Like, I don't know what's happening,'" she recalled.

"I can't bring up the fact that I'm scared of you because when I do, you get really scary," she recalled thinking at the time.

In a new interview with The Independent, Kendrick admitted that due to her recent trauma, she has shied away from the comedic roles she got her start doing.

Anna Kendrick reached leading lady status with the Pitch Perfect trilogy. Image: Getty.

"I think what was happening at that time was I was being forced into a place of performance and dishonesty in my private life," she said.

"I just couldn't spend another second breathing dishonest air."

For now, Kendrick is more comfortable in these more dramatic acting roles.

"In the parlance of the internet, I think I was known as sort of quirky and relatable," she said.

"But in that, there's not a lot of room for sadness and fear."

Feature image: Getty.

If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn't matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.