(LifeSiteNews) — Kim Novak, known for her leading role in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” considered one of the greatest films of all time, recently revealed that she survived abortion and infanticide attempts by her mother.

The legendary film actress unveiled the tragic incidents in her life story documentary, “Kim Novak’s Vertigo,” which premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

“The Depression caused so much hardship. My mother got pregnant and she could not afford a child,” Novak shared in the film. “She tried to abort me with knitting needles and it failed. So she tried to suffocate me with a pillow, and I always had breathing issues.”

“I do remember fighting to breathe, to stay alive, and I won, I stayed alive, and made it through,” Novak said.

Her mother had already lost Novak’s brother before birth — it is unclear whether he was miscarried or aborted. Novak said her father kept her brother’s body in a jar in the basement.

Despite her mother’s previous attempts to kill her, Novak did not distance herself from her and spoke well of her in the autobiographical film.

“I can still hear her telling me, or really making me tell me by looking in the mirror, that I am the captain of my own ship, that I can be in charge of myself and what I do and how I create my image to the world,” she said.

“I so often think of my childhood as not being a good, healthy childhood, but it was, you know. There were beautiful things,” Novak said.

Now 92, Novak feels compelled to unburden herself through a sort of life “confession,” the motivation behind the film, she suggested.

“It’s not easy getting old,” she says at the beginning of the film. “I’m feeling it’s close to the end … I’ve been feeling the need to free something.”

Novak opened up about her distaste for Hollywood’s culture, which prompted her to retire early from acting in 1966 and become a painter.

“I always resented being made over. That was why I was so right for the role,” she said of “Vertigo.” “Hollywood swallows people whole. I didn’t want that to happen to me.”

“My survival mode was to paint,” she said, adding, “I don’t have to be the pretty one now.”