Lynsey Addario took one of Ukraine's most haunting photos. Now, she shares how her work helps her 'deal with trauma'

Lynsey Addario always thought her career as a photojournalist covering conflicts around the world ruled out motherhood. Even holding down relationships with a job that required constant travel and tons of risk was a "disaster," she tells Yahoo Life.

"I just assumed at some point in my early 30s, like, OK, here's the deal. I have this amazing job and life that I'm so grateful [for], that I believe in so much and I have so much passion for — that will be my true love," the Pulitzer Prize-winner says. "I didn't actually think I would ever end up with a family and with a loving husband and a job that I loved. It just was something that I assumed I would have to sacrifice."

But life has a way of surprising us all. Fast-forward to 2022, and the New York Times correspondent is now a happily married mother of two sons who continues to put her life on the line, most recently by traveling to war-torn Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. That assignment saw her capturing an image that's been burned into countless brains the world over: a graphic, gut-wrenching shot of four dead Ukrainians who had been killed by mortar fire as they tried to flee Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv. The deceased were later identified as Tetiana Perebyinis, 43, and her two children, 18-year-old Mykyta and 9-year-old Alisa, and the church volunteer who was aiding them, Anatoly Berezhny, 26.