Cynthia Erivo broke down after playing slavery hero Harriet Tubman

Cynthia Erivo broke down in tears when she wrapped her new movie about slavery hero Harriet Tubman because she felt she was losing a friend.

The British actress's latest character really got under her skin in a good way and she felt like she had a real connection with Tubman.

"Playing her made me want to be fierce," Erivo said during a recent SAG-AFTRA Conversations event. "I thought I was determined and I thought I was strong physically. I thought I was intelligent. But then you play her... It made me learn that my determination pales in comparison and I've decided to distil what it really means to be determined in my life.

"I remember that last day, it was pitch black as we shot it in the dark, in the mud, in the middle of nowhere. After the film wrapped I felt a little bit sad, really. It was like letting a friend go because she had been part of my life for a really long time. I had been learning her and trying to find her and speaking to her and praying for her and thanking her."

However, The Bad Times at the El Royale star explained it wasn't until she travelled back to London that all of the emotions really hit her.

"I went and did two concerts afterwards, so I didn't really decompress until I went home to my mum. I went back to London and I was ill one day and all of a sudden I broke down in tears and was crying my eyes out," the 32-year-old stated. "I just realised that I hadn't come up for air yet. I guess the decompression was forced upon me. I won't let that happen like that again."

And Erivo always has at least one Tubman reminder with her at all times.

"I still wear my ring that has her face on it and I have a chain that has her on it as well," she smiled.