Jennifer Lawrence Calls Fiancé Cooke Maroney ‘The Greatest Human Being I’ve Ever Met’
Categories Articles Cooke Maroney Interviews Jennifer News & Updates

Jennifer Lawrence Calls Fiancé Cooke Maroney ‘The Greatest Human Being I’ve Ever Met’

Jennifer Lawrence is opening up about why she fell for her fiancé Cooke Maroney.

During this week’s episode of former E! News reporter Catt Sadler‘s podcast Naked with Catt Sadler, the Oscar winner shared new details about her ultra-private relationship with Maroney and her wedding planning process.

“He’s the greatest human being I’ve ever met,” the 28-year-old actress said on the podcast. “He really is, and he gets better.”

When asked how she chose to marry him, Jennifer said, “I don’t know, I started with the basics. ‘How do I feel? Is he nice? Is he kind?’ It’s just — this is the one, I know that sounds really stupid but he’s just, he’s — you know. He’s the greatest person I’ve ever met, so I feel very honored to become a Maroney.”

“I definitely wasn’t at a place where I was like, ‘I’m ready to get married,’” she added. “I just met Cooke and I wanted to marry him. We wanted to marry each other, we wanted to commit fully.”

“He’s my best friend. I want to legally bind him to me forever,” Jennifer continued. “And fortunately the paperwork exists for such a thing. You find your favorite person on the planet and you’re like, ‘You can’t leave!’”

“I’ve been in a good place,” she added. “I haven’t been neurotic about [wedding planning]. I’m like too lazy to be neurotic. I saw a dress I liked and I was like, ‘That’s the dress.’ I saw a venue and I was like, ‘Cool, we got the venue.’”

She did panic when planning her bachelorette party, however!

“I thought I didn’t want to have bachelorette party, and then last minute I decided I did,” Jennifer said. “Then nobody was available because it was last minute. And then I started crying. I was like, ‘I don’t even know why I’m crying. I didn’t know that I wanted a bachelorette party. I guess I just feel pathetic.’ [Cooke] was like, ‘Oh my god, you don’t need to feel pathetic.’”

Jennifer Lawrence’s Beauty Routine
Categories Articles Campaigns Dior Interviews News & Updates

Jennifer Lawrence’s Beauty Routine

The 28-year-old actress and face of Joy, the newest fragrance from Dior, keeps it low-maintenance.

FRAGRANCE

Family legacy: “The scent my mom always wore was Miss Dior. That was my first smell of perfume, so Dior has been in my nostrils since I was a child. And it’s so weird that I have my own fragrance now!”

Creative vision: “About eight months ago or so, I went to Paris to visit the laboratory with François [Demachy, Dior’s perfumer- creator]. He had been carrying around the scent for about a year and adding to it. So I got to smell all the different ingredients, and it was just such a cool experience. I had no idea what went into making a perfume. It’s also fascinating how one note will smell one way, and then when you pair it with another it smells completely different.”

Signature scent: “I like that Joy is not too strong; it’s very airy. It’s floral with a hint of sandalwood, and I think it’s modern but classic. It just seems to be kind of open and not over-whelming, which is the number-one thing I don’t like about perfumes.”

MAKEUP

Brow must: “My grandma told me that I need to pay closer attention to my eyebrows at one point, so I now do.”

Fresh- faced: “If I don’t have an event, I normally don’t wear makeup. Since I often get it done professionally, I’m probably better off staying away from my face. I have learned nothing from the pros—ha!”

SKIN & HAIR

Smooth move: “I exfoliate every night, and it really doesn’t matter what I use. You can kind of use anything grainy, so I change it up.”

Less is more: “I have really dry skin, so I use night cream, and I always do this very thick mask. I can’t remember the name of the brand, but it doesn’t smell very good!”

Skin-care philosophy: “I think it’s important to change up facial products, but I do use retinol under my night cream every night. It says not to use it every night, but I always say,‘Fuck it.’”

SPF: “During the day, I use sunblock. It doesn’t matter what, but I always make sure it has zinc in it.”

“I do use retinol under my night cream every night. It says not to use it every night, but I always say,’F*ck it.'”

Expert opinion: “My facialist is Georgia Louise in New York. I normally just defer to her on everything.”

Texture: “I’m so bad with hair! I have naturally curly hair, so of course I hate when it’s curly. I prefer to blow it out straight.”

Hairstyle: “Riawna Capri [at Nine Zero One in L.A.] did my current cut. I like it to look choppy and uneven.”

DIET & FITNESS

Morning routine: “Coffee. Then I brush my teeth. Sunblock. Then put on concealer.Take my dog [Pippi] to the park. Shower. And then I just putter around, really. I watch CNN and yell at the news. I wish so badly that they could hear me.”

Simple life: “I really wish I was better about health. I don’t take vitamins, and I eat like an 11-year- old orphan. But I exercise! I do Pilates and I run.”

Puppy love: “Pippi gets an oatmeal bath about once every three weeks. And she gets more exercise than Mom.”

Harpers Bazaar

Jennifer Lawrence interviews Emma Stone
Categories Articles Interviews Jennifer News & Updates

Jennifer Lawrence interviews Emma Stone

ELLE Magazine

Friendship, to Emma Stone, is pretty much everything. Which is why the star and executive producer of Netflix’s Maniac—and face of Louis Vuitton’s new fragrance—requested that she be interviewed by her longtime pal Jennifer Lawrence (who calls her by her real name, Emily). The two got together in New York to discuss Emma’s new project, living life in the public eye, and turning the big 3-0.

Come along as ELLE listens in.

Jennifer Lawrence: Okay, let’s get things started! Emily, you’re the best. Care to comment?

Emma Stone: Um, oh God. Uh, no comment.

Next: You’re so pretty. How’d you get like that?

[Laughs] What’s the Bridesmaids line you always say?

That you smell like pinecones and you look like Cinderella. Care to comment?

She says that to me all the time.

Interviewing is very nerve-racking! I’m just gonna start with my list. So, Emily, you and I have never talked about acting because we’re not douchelords. So now we should talk about acting.

Okay.

When you act, do you use your imagination? Do you use wounds from the past?

That’s a good question!

I know; I’m a great interviewer.

Well, I tend to use a lot of stuff that has actually happened in my life, and I pull from feelings that came with certain experiences. Then it at least feels productive to have all these feelings [laughs], which is why I started acting in general. And I guess I use my imagination to an extent.

So you can make yourself cry purely just from imagining something horrible? You’re that sensitive?

Jen.

I know you, but I have to ask for the people who don’t know you. Emily, are you sensitive?

I am sensitive on a level that is problematic.

Emily blushes watching TV. She blushes for someone on TV.

[Laughs] I mean, I’ve talked to my therapist about it before, and she’s like, Thank God you found [acting].

An outlet.

I started acting in youth theater when I was 11. But it’s weird when it becomes your job. And then there are other parts of it, like sitting here with the tape recorder in between us, that aren’t things that you think about when you’re a kid and it’s just like, ‘This is a safe, great place to feel a lot.’

You seem to take something like anxiety or pain and you turn it into something. You take all your, what do you call them, your—

Demons?

Your demons, and you use them for good.

Honestly, turning 30—because I’m turning 30 in a couple of months—I know people talk about, like, turning 30 and the experience of that.

Thirty, flirty, and thriving!

[Laughs] My twenties were a really interesting time, and there’s been a lot that has happened in these past 10 years, both positive and not as positive. It’s weird how much turning 30 crystallizes your life. Instead of just living the dreams that I had in my youth and getting to do the job that I love to do and making friends and going through all of that, it’s like, Now what do I actively want as an adult?

Yeah, what do you want from the world?

It’s been an interesting thing to ruminate on. I love to ruminate.

You love ruminating.

I can’t really help it.

Has any fruit come from it?

There’s occasional fruit.

Do you care to talk about it?

There’s occasional fruit, and then there are frequent sleepless nights.

Oh yeah. I get those phone calls. I feel so bad when I have to call her with bad news. I’m like, “Everything’s okay.” [Sinister voice] But it’s not.

Oh God.

What do you think caused your anxiety? Do you think you were born like that, or do you think something happened that made you extremely sensitive, or do you think that you’re naturally pathetic?

I think that it’s a combination of all of it.

Do you remember a time when you felt more anxious than you ever had?

Yeah, when I was seven. That’s when I started having panic attacks, which I’ve talked about pretty extensively. I think your wiring is just kind of what you are. My mom always says that I was born with my nerves outside of my body. But I’m lucky for the anxiety, because it also makes me high-energy.

You’re actually very adventurous. And you’re laid-back. I know that would surprise you to hear, but I know you to be laid-back. Until you’re not. And then when you’re not, you’re really not.

I think a huge part of it is that I really like being alive. I haven’t shot anything for six months, which has been amazing because there’s been time to be with friends or travel.

HERE’S ANOTHER TURNING-30 THING I’VE REALIZED: YOU PICK YOUR FAMILY. YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR FRIENDSHIPS, THE PEOPLE WHO GO WITH YOU INTO THESE NEXT PHASES OF YOUR LIFE— YOU’RE CHOOSING YOUR FAMILY.

 

I notice that you bring up friendship a lot.

Ha.

Is that important to you?

No.

Who’s your favorite friend?

I really like [Lawrence’s dog] Pippi.

She has a personality!

I love Pippi’s mom.

So are friends important to you? And why?

I think friendship is pretty much everything. Here’s another turning-30 thing I’ve realized: You pick your family. You realize that your friendships, the people who go with you into these next phases of your life— you’re choosing your family.

And what’s most important to you in friendship?

Loyalty is enormous.

Oh, I love that you pointed at me.

You’ve been one of my most loyal friends for years. And I think knowing that you can laugh together and that not everything has to be such a big deal.

How do you view professional mistakes?

There are definitely things that I’ve beat myself up about. Ha, surprise, surprise, that’s the theme of the interview.

Doesn’t it suck that we have to learn lessons publicly?

It feels like a lot of people have to learn lessons publicly now because of the way the world is wired.

You mean social media?

Yeah.

Speaking of, you don’t have a big social media presence. Thoughts? Why not?

Wow, that was an amazing segue.

I know; I’m getting the hang of this.

I think it wouldn’t be a positive thing for me. If people can handle that sort of output and input in the social media sphere, power to them.

What kinds of things do you let roll off your back?

What I wear, how I look. I struggled a couple of years ago with feeling like how I looked was being scrutinized, and then I realized that anything that really bothers me that people could comment on is something I’m already worried about. So it’s not really something that I’m overthinking right now. But in a different period, if I was feeling bad about something, it would bother me much more to hear people talking about it.

Yeah.

Again, nobody really gives a shit at the end of the day except for me. [Laughs]

Unfortunately, people do give a shit.

Well, for like 30 seconds.

About you, not me. [Both laugh] What movie changed your life? Care to take a gander? Obviously the best movie ever made was Jurassic Park. We all know that.

But I wasn’t in that, Jen. I’m not Laura Dern, as much as I want to be.

You were amazing with the triceratops.

It’s not me! I wish it were me, but it’s not me.

You look so good in khaki shorts. [Both laugh] What role did you play that had the biggest impact on you personally?

I loved doing Paper Man. It was about 10 years ago. That was an intense time in my life. I had just turned 20. All these pieces fit together, and it was a really impactful time.

For the record, note that she said “pizzas,” not “pieces.”

[Laughs] All the pizzas fit together.

Did you ever think you would win an Oscar? Which apparently you’ve done.

No.

We were talking one night and I was, like, passionately speaking about something and said, “Emily, you’ve been nominated for two Academy Awards!” And she goes, “Jen, I won.” And I was like, “You did!?”

ES and JL: [Both say] Congratulations!

ES: She was one of the first people to reach out to me when it happened, but she just blocked it out. You had to block it out. [Both laugh]

What’s the biggest blessing and what’s the biggest drag of your j-o-b? And also, what’s your perspective on it? I think about my parents, and how I grew up in a working-class family. That’s why I hate working with people who don’t come out of their trailers or are late. It’s a job!

Me too. That drives me nuts. Lack of professionalism makes me really insane.

What are other things that get your goat?

[Laughs] I don’t like the idea that anybody thinks that this is, like, special. There’s nothing to complain about. The fact that anyone could think that [fame] is true or special….

HONESTLY, SO MANY OF MY DREAMS ARE NOW PERSONAL AND LESS PROFESSIONAL.

 

What you’re saying is, you see behind the curtain; you’ve seen Oz.

Exactly. My job is fun and it’s wonderful and it can be hard, but it’s also like, But how hard can it be? [JL laughs] You know what I mean?

I really wish we could include your arm gestures.

There are really hard jobs in the world, like really hard, and everyone is being so nice to me and bringing me a coffee. Like, calm down. Are you serious?

I brought you a coffee! You’re a movie star; what else am I gonna do? [ES laughs] I had to make you a coffee.

[Fancy voice] I’m so glad you noticed. I’m very important.

Have you ever gone through a spell in your life where you’ve felt that you’d lost grip on yourself?

Oh my God, I went through that last night. [JL laughs] When I was a teenager, I was in a real sweet spot. Then in my mid-twenties, I really lost the plot. A lot of things shifted, and it felt like whatever that protective layer was, that mask that you build for yourself—this is my personality, this is who I am—totally shattered.

What shattered? Security?

The structure of my life shifted so much that I didn’t know how to relate to this new version, you know? My parents got divorced, and I went through this stuff with my career really starting. It all happened at once.

It’s so much more helpful to talk about your life in a realistic way instead of having these false realities. Like, if I look skinny in a dress, that’s probably because I was watching what I ate. I didn’t eat a whole pizza and fit into a size 2! [ES laughs] I find it irritating when people make their lives look perfect. I remember when you were first talking about anxiety and reading that and being like, “Me too.” And then I didn’t feel like such an asshole for bringing it up. You look at the world realistically.

You do.

You do.

You do! Let’s just say “You do” until the end of time, and that’ll be the whole article.

Wait! We need to talk about Maniac.

The thing I liked about Maniac was that it’s about people who have their own internal struggles and are trying to fix them with a pill. But you see over the course of the show that human connection and love is really the only thing that gets us through life. I liked that idea, and I love Jonah [Hill]. I had worked with him on the first movie I ever did [Superbad], so it was, like, 11 years later.

So when you met him, was he, like, a big deal?

I was 17.

And you were nobody?

[Laughs and changes voice] I was a nobody. I was a nobody. It was really early on for him, too. [JL gets interrupted by a call from her dad, promises to call him back]

He never calls me, so I could not ignore that.

Do you know that her dad makes jam?

He makes blackberry jam. But he only makes it for people if they’re really going to eat it.

She was like, “My dad wants to know if you want some of the jam, but only if you’re really going to eat it, because he doesn’t want to waste a label on you.” It was so good.

He’s so cute.

Truly the sweetest, it’s heartbreaking. Wait, what was I saying?

I don’t remember. Oh, Jonah!

Right! Obviously lots of things have happened in the past 11 years, so it was nice to just get to be around each other.

On another note: You have a beautiful voice, but you hate to sing.

I don’t hate to sing! I love to sing.

But you were talking about something recently, and you were like, “But it’s musical.” We went to see you in Cabaret [on Broadway] and you were like, “I was awful.” I feel like you don’t.

The night that Jen came to see me in Cabaret, both of my contacts popped out of my eyes.

She’s blind as a bat.

It was so weird. I’ve never had that happen in my whole life.

I would have never noticed. My jaw was on the floor the entire time; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

You’re the best, Mom.

I want an album from you of lullabies.

I’ll record an album for just you. We’ll do ’90s country music!

Oh my God! Will you make me a ’90s country album? [Starts singing “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews] “I am Rosemary’s granddaughter.” I want that one!

That’s your favorite.

We’ll do that. Okay, so you do like to sing. Do you like to dance?

I love to dance.

Really? God, you and I couldn’t be more different. Why do you like to dance?

Because it’s the most fun thing in the world.

Do you learn dances quickly?

Dance is my very favorite art form to watch.

Ugh.

What? You played a ballerina [in Red Sparrow].

Ugh, tell me about it.

Tell me more.

Fucking miserable. I can’t learn choreography. It doesn’t click in my mind. The pizzas don’t come together.

The pizzas do not work.

I’ll watch somebody do something and then I’m like, ‘But how’d you get your arm over here?’ I would watch my choreographer and be like, ‘But your head just did a 360. I can’t do that.’

You just fully exorcised it.

What’s your sad and lonely movie?

Anything Nancy Meyers.

Oh, fuck yeah. What about Baby Boom?

ES and JL: [Both say] Baby Boom!

I put on Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget Jones feels me. I had one night of horrible insomnia, like random insomnia. I watched Bridget Jones.

I started 30 Rock, and that’s been a pretty good one.

That’s nice. We all need some Tina Fey. Do you want to be back on set again? Or are you kind of at peace with not working right now?

I’m at peace. I think it’s been a good time to get a little perspective, because things were so heavy work wise for the past few years. And honestly, so many of my dreams are now personal and less professional.

You don’t want world peace?

No, I do want world peace!

Well, it sounded like you didn’t want world peace for a second.

It’s less thinking about the next 10 years and what needs to happen and just sort of relaxing into what will be instead of trying to control the outcome.

You are very good about that, I’m telling you.

I’m getting better at it.

Would you be a mother? She’s going to be the best mom; she’s so nurturing.

That’s how you are! I think your maternal instinct is very strong and always has been.

Thank you, honey.

My perspective about kids has changed as I’ve gotten older. I never babysat or anything. As a teenager, I was like, I’m never getting married, I’m never having kids. And then I got older and I was like, I really want to get married, I really want to have kids.

When I was a teenager, every boyfriend I had I was like, I guess this is the one! I was that girl. [Laughs] Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a baby?

Aw, a whole village.

Science.

It’s the turning-30 thing where you’re like, I’m not that young. I’m young, but I’m not that young.

I can tell you’re fertile just by looking at you.

Jeez.

I can see it in your fucking face.

Thank you. That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.

I’d be honored to father your children.

The Jennifer Lawrence Interview, by Oprah Winfrey
Categories Interviews News & Updates

The Jennifer Lawrence Interview, by Oprah Winfrey

The Oscar-winning actress talks to the legendary interviewer about everything from pay equity (“I had it up to my f—ing eyeballs”) to her dealings with Harvey (“He had only been nice to me — except for when he wasn’t”) to where she sees herself in 20 years: “I won’t have periods anymore, that’s a bonus.”

Oprah Winfrey barely knew Jennifer Lawrence when the actress called and said she’d like to meet and then on Oct. 5 drove to see Winfrey at her Montecito, California, home. “I was excited to have lunch, and we were just like ‘girls in the garden,'” says Winfrey. “We probably talked for three and a half hours about life and fame and growing up and money and management and taking care of yourself and spirituality and philosophy. We drank rosé, and we laughed, and we talked about everything.”

Almost everything. One thing they didn’t discuss was Harvey Weinstein, whose history of harassment and assault exploded into view that day, when The New York Times first detailed it. But Weinstein became a focal point of the two women’s conversation a few weeks later, when THR asked Winfrey, 63, to interview Lawrence for this Women in Entertainment issue. That was shortly before the 27-year-old actress was to receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at THR‘s annual Power 100 breakfast, an award Winfrey received in 2013.

Since their first meeting, the new friends have been texting back and forth. “I sent her a copy of Wisdom of Sundays and, before that, Power of Now and A New Earth,” notes Winfrey. “What resonates with me is that, when you are talking to her, what you’re seeing is the real thing. You’re not seeing any pretense. She’s asking all the right questions: ‘How can I be used? How can I use this moment for something bigger than myself?'”

Lawrence grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and was propelled to fame with 2010’s Winter’s BoneThe Hunger Games made her a global superstar, along with roles in Silver Linings PlaybookAmerican Hustle and the X-Men series. But it’s not so much her stardom and four Oscar nominations (with a win for Silver Linings) that make her the perfect recipient of the Lansing award; it’s also her nonprofit endeavors. She’s been tireless in supporting Kentucky charities and those that help children in particular.

That’s one reason why Winfrey was so impressed by “how much light [Lawrence] carries. Capital L, capital Light. You can feel there’s a strong intelligence and a desire to use this moment for something greater than fame and fortune.”

OPRAH WINFREY I read this wonderful book by Elizabeth Strout [Anything Is Possible]. And in it, she was speaking about one of the characters who was so embittered and regretful, and the line she used was, “because her life did not turn out the way she had expected.” Is your life what you expected?

JENNIFER LAWRENCE When I started acting, I was totally satisfied when I was on a sitcom because I had a steady paycheck. And I was like, “Maybe I can just find a way to be on sitcoms forever.” I was totally satisfied and good. I never dreamed that I could have this kind of career.

When you dreamed the dream, what did the dream look like? I used to drive home from church with my father past rich white people’s houses — we’d be the last to leave our little church yard, and he’d be in this big, old, green Oldsmobile that I was embarrassed to be in — and I’d pick houses that I dreamed about living in, and that was a big dream for me: I’d have a house, I’d be able to pay my bills, I’d have two cars in the driveway.

I used to do that, too. I remember driving by big, beautiful houses, but I always dreamed of being there with my parents. I never imagined I’d be able to own something like that on my own. I thought for a while maybe I could be an interior designer — that was the only job I knew about because my mom was friends with an interior designer. I was mostly just focused on a family when I was little. I would have never thought I’d be so career-focused. It’s not something I knew about myself until I started becoming successful, and then I wanted to become more successful. I’d make a great movie, and then I’d want to make more great movies; I’d make money, I’d want to make more money. It was a mind-set I wasn’t ever aware I had until my early 20s.

And then, by the time you’re 27, you’ve got [an Oscar]. By the time you’ve gotten four [nominations], does it come with —

Fear. You’re immediately hit with fear. Or at least I was. I had been climbing and working and fighting, and I remember last year just getting hit with fear. All of a sudden it was, “They’re going to get sick of me.” That’s when all my insecurity came. I’ve been probably more insecure after last year, and I don’t know if that’s just a feeling of: I’ve got more to lose, I have more people to disappoint. I don’t know how to explain it.

When [mother! was] not [well received], [was that] disappointing?

I read Twitter, and I was looking for bad mother! things. It was horrible. It was really bad. I loved this so much, and it just broke my heart, especially for Darren [Aronofsky, the film’s writer-director and Lawrence’s ex] because he loved this person. And any time you’re in a relationship, their pain is your pain.

You’re trolling for bad news?!

I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. I don’t know how to look up these things. I started twittering “mother!” ’cause I didn’t know how else to get news, and that was really bad.

How do you choose what you’re going to do next?

It’s chemistry. It’s like meeting a boyfriend. Red Sparrow [March]was sexual, and I haven’t done anything sexy or sexual. I’ve been afraid of that since 2014, when I got my pictures hacked. I just thought, “I’ll never do that again. I’ll never share that part of myself ever since it got shared against my will.” And then when I said yes to Red Sparrow, I felt I was taking something back.

When your pictures got exploited that way, did it feel like you’d been robbed? Like you came home and your whole house had been invaded?

I would much prefer my whole house to have been invaded. That’s what’s so scary about electronic [things]. I have such fear with my phone and my computer and electronics. It’s taking somebody’s intellectual property but also my body. It was violating on a sexual level.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

It was probably by you. You just said it under your breath. You were talking, and then under your breath you said, “You have to teach somebody how to treat you.” That’s the smartest thing I’ve ever heard.

That was a fun lunch. You know what was amazing about that lunch? The Harvey Weinstein story had broken that day or the day before. And I meant to bring it up and then I didn’t.

I don’t know a woman who hasn’t been touched by some sort of abuse. I’m sad by the women’s stories, but I’m excited by the change that’s going to come from it. The rule book is being rewritten right now. People are terrified. I mean, specifically, men using their power to abuse women. But I was abused by a woman on a movie. [In October, Lawrence said a female producer had once asked her to “do a nude lineup with about five women who were much, much thinner than me. And we all stood side by side with only paste-ons covering our privates.” She did not name the producer or the film.] There was a general consensus on [that] movie that I was fat, and so it wasn’t just the woman. Everybody agreed that I was fat. And she had to be the mouthpiece.

That was where you were asked to lose 15 pounds —

— in two weeks.

And then someone said you were already —

— that I was already fuckable. And I had to do a nude lineup. It was abusive. I mean, it wasn’t sexually abusive, but —

It was abusive.

I’ve talked to women. We’ve talked about forming a commission. It’s just so sad because every actor, when you’re starting out, there’s really not a lot of options. On that movie, I called my agent, and I called everybody. It’s like, there’s not really anything anybody can do because the behavior is so normalized. And then you become more powerful, and people start fucking with you less. People at the beginning of their careers don’t want to rock the boat because if you rock the boat, you’ll be called difficult. How can there be rules in place where there are certain ways that you just cannot treat people? Or a commission, somebody that they can call? If every A-list actor decides to join this commission, we know everybody in the industry. I know every studio head in town. If I’m on this commission, and [if] I get an email about somebody being treated badly on a set, I can send an email. We have to all put our heads together and figure out how to not let this moment go, not just be like, “Oh, well, that was crazy.” Something has to really get done.

I feel it happening. But you were rocking the boat several years ago when you came out talking about the differences in pay for men and women doing the same job.

I felt this frustration that women in every field felt, which was: I’m trying to negotiate, and we’re going through the numbers, and I’m seeing that the numbers aren’t adding up, and it’s like you just keep hitting a wall where you can’t get paid more, [and] if you ask for more, we’ll hire somebody else, and the whole movie will fall apart. They’d rather pull a whole movie apart than pay me fairly. And when the Sony hack happened, I was like, “You know what? Fuck it. I’m not the only woman who’s going through this. If everybody’s looking at it anyway and everybody’s talking about it …” I didn’t see an option other than saying something. I had just had it up to my fucking eyeballs.

So you were emboldened in that moment. And this now, the Weinstein moment, has also emboldened a lot of women. I was on the set with some other actresses, and everybody was behaving in a way that felt like PTSD.

There was this moment when all of this broke out and everybody was silent, and then all of a sudden, every actress’ Twitter was blowing up with, “You need to come forward and you need to say something and you need to condemn!” Which is true: We do have a responsibility to say something; we’ve all worked with him, but everybody needed a moment. Just speaking for myself, I had known him since I was 20, and he had only ever been nice to me — except for the moments that he wasn’t, and then I called him an asshole, and we moved on. He was paternal to me. So I needed a moment to process everything because I thought I knew this guy, and then he’s being accused of rape. We all knew he was a dog, we knew that he was a —

A brute?

A tough guy, a brute, a tough guy to negotiate with. I didn’t know that he was a rapist. And it’s so widespread, the abuse, from so many different people — it’s directors, it’s producers — that I think everybody needed to [process it]. Everybody needs to deal with this in their own way; everybody needs to heal.

Has there been a woman’s or a man’s story that stood out for you among all the stories of harassment?

No. They are all horrible, and not one is more horrifying than the next. But being able to hear when the woman wore the microphone and Harvey was telling her to watch him shower — I felt sick in my bones for an entire day. I was just sick. I was just like, “I can’t,” after hearing that. And that’s why it’s so important to talk about abuse, all of the different forms of abuse, because he didn’t lay a finger on her, and I felt chilled to my bones. Imagine having a man who is that powerful telling you to do something [and] you’re saying no. [He’s] threatening you, saying, “Don’t embarrass me. We’re at this hotel.”

The implication is that if you won’t give up five minutes of your time, you’re going to lose your career.

Then you’re done.

Last question on this subject: With all of these women and men coming forward, what ultimately would be the best result?

Social change. Men need more social awareness. But this comes down to equality, and until all women in every job are paid equally for the same amount of work, how are we ever going to be thought of as equals? As long as there is one group of humans that is overruling another one, there’s going to be abuse, [and] why would we be thought of as equals? … My political passion has almost turned into an obsession. I mean, I don’t think you ever do feel settled, [but] as soon as you feel settled with your home and your personal life, you’re looking at the world and going, “How in the hell do I fix this? What do we do?”

Have you met Trump?

No, never.

Do you want to?

I think so. I’ve got a pretty good speech. And it ends with a martini to the face. (Laughter.) I have something to say for all of them. I watch different characters on the news, and I’m like, “You just wait.”

If that moment comes, you would be prepared?

Oh, I would, definitely. Oh, my God, I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’ll give you a hint — it’s not nice. You wouldn’t want me to say it to you.

You are politically frustrated — we talked about that at lunch. This moment is a moment that forces us all to show up. So how will you show up?

I’ve started with simply trying to raise money for the organiza­tion [Represent.Us] that I’m on the board of directors of. And then I’m going to go on campus tours. I want to be talking to high schoolers and college students. I want to travel around to the areas I’m from so that people realize that corruption is a completely nonpartisan issue. And we want to hold a press conference where the only people who are asking the questions are the high schoolers and the college students. I would [also] love to help pass a bundle of laws [against government corruption]. We’d be able to pass state-by-state legislation to help [stop] corruption in our government. I would love to pass laws that help celebrity parents be able to take their kids to places without having to worry about paparazzi.

How do you create a personal life?

It’s really not hard. People imagine my life being [different]. It’s actually pretty normal. I drove myself to the laser hair removal today. (Laughter.) I have always been a homebody. My social life has always been very boring: I sit around outside my house with my friends and drink wine, and that hasn’t really changed. I don’t really like to go out. I have friends who come and visit me when I’m on sets. It’s just annoying because you have to work 13-, 14-hour days. So sometimes it’s not nice to have my friends there, just because I feel bad and I have to work. I actually have the most amazing neighborhood tribe. My neighborhood is like a village. The women are sharing breast milk. Zoe Saldana just came and got an onion from me [the other day]. Cameron Diaz and I went on a hike [recently].

Really? People are borrowing onions? Nobody borrows sugar anymore. It’s like, “May I have an onion and some kale?”

(Laughter.) Exactly. I made chicken broth.

People who really know you use what adjectives to describe you?

Crazy. Honest. I’m sure everybody would agree that I am honest and loyal, but they would also all agree that I’m crazy. Committed. Most of my friends are married, and I’m still over at their house every night like we’re all married, all three of us. So the commitment is strong.

Three people you’d like to have at a dinner party, living or dead?

Scott Disick [from Keeping Up With the Kardashians], Luann from Real Housewives of New York, Bethenny Frankel. And I’m not proud of that, but that’s what comes from my heart.

If you had a seance, who would you want to contact?

A seance? Oh, no! I just thought about friends. Abraham Lincoln. I’d ask him to be president, I’d ask him to run. I guess you’d ask him, “How did you face such opposition so bravely?” And then he’ll say, “Well, I got shot in the head for it, Jennifer.”

Are you more traditional or more modern?

My house is probably the exact blend of both. Probably leaning a little bit more traditional. I’m infatuated with my house. I don’t even like L.A., I just like my house here, and I don’t ever really leave. But it never feels done.

Do you have a favorite possession?

No. I’m the opposite of a hoarder. I don’t hang on to enough stuff. I mean, my most prized possession, my most cherished thing in the world, is my one and only daughter, Pippi [her dog].

A favorite quote?

My favorite quote that’s going on my tombstone, and I wrote this myself, probably stoned, is: “I definitely shouldn’t have done it, but I am at peace with knowing that I couldn’t not.” That started over me sending dub smashes — they’re like jokey videos — to Robert De Niro, who was fully not getting it. And the more he wasn’t getting it, the funnier I thought it was, and I kept leaning into it. I shouldn’t have done it, but I’m at peace with knowing that I couldn’t not. (Laughter.)

Fill in this blank. Twenty years from now, the world will be …

Fair. (Laughs.) No, it’ll be a carnival. It’ll be a big zoo. Fair. That covers hunger, it covers a lot of bases.

Twenty years from now, I will be …

I won’t have periods anymore. That’s a bonus.

Yeah, you will.

Fuck.

Do you have a favorite joke?

This one New Yorker cartoon really got me. This man was at his mother’s funeral, and it was just a cartoon of him at the pulpit, and he said, “Mother wouldn’t have wanted us to feel sad, she would’ve wanted us to feel guilty.” (Laughter.)

What’s the lesson that has taken you the longest to learn?

I’m still learning to slow down. My thoughts are so gigantic. I go from one small idea to 40 years from now, and I overthink everything, and nothing actually gets done. Worrying does nothing. So living in the moment and taking everything step by step is something I have not mastered. I am still working at it.

The lesson you would want to teach your younger self is …?

I would probably just say, “Calm the fuck down.” I would get so nervous. I was 21, going through world press tours, and it’s just embarrassing. You don’t want to see yourself at 21 being ridiculous.

How do you ground yourself, center yourself?

I don’t know if I’ve gotten there yet. I don’t know if I do.

Are you happy?

Yes.

Are you fulfilled?

Yes. Not all the time, but overall, yeah.

Are you religious, spiritual or both?

Neither. I guess I am spiritual. I’m not religious. I grew up very religious. I have a religious family, but I don’t believe in anything. I wouldn’t call myself an atheist. I just believe in that thing, that something, whatever it is, that I do believe in. I don’t think it identifies as a man. To argue over what it is is ridiculous because none of us have the answer. I pray, it’s just I’m not praying to anybody specific. I grew up praying every night before bed, so I still sometimes do that, and it’s a good checking-in time. But I was in a plane that had double-engine failure, and I was praying to God.

Whether you believe in Him or not. (Laughter.)

Whether I believe in Him or not! I was like, “I don’t know if you’re out there, but if you are, please, please [save] the airplane.”

Jennifer Lawrence “felt empowered” during ‘Red Sparrow’ filming
Categories Articles Interviews News & Updates Red Sparrow

Jennifer Lawrence “felt empowered” during ‘Red Sparrow’ filming

MAXIM – Jennifer Lawrence plays a convincing spy and seductress in Red Sparrow, but it wasn’t an easy role for her to step into.

The liberal amount of nudity called for in the script initially “terrified” Lawrence, whose nude photos were leaked after a cyberattack in 2014.

“I was terrified. I don’t think I have ever been so scared of doing a movie before in my life,” she told Bill Whitaker in a new 60 Minutes interview.

Cool, so I’m really naked getting freezing cold water poured on me.”

When it was all said and done, the Academy Award-winning actress felt that the nude scenes helped her overcome the insecurities spawned by the photo leak.

“I feel like something that was taken from me I got back and am using in my art,” she told Whitaker.

In a separate interview with Fox News, she elaborated on taking back what was rightfully hers.

I mean it was empowering for me personally … I feel like I didn’t even really realize until I had finished that scene how much fear and insecurity and a complex of being judged had been following me for so many years,” Lawrence said.

I ended up thanking [director Francis Lawrence], which might sound crazy but also we’re talking about a world of deceit and corruption and abuse and abuse to women through the lens of a woman who regains her freedom through losing her intellect and I don’t think there is a better time for this movie than right now.