There's something very addictive about people pleasing. It's a thought pattern and a habit that feels really, really good until it becomes desperate.
I am crushing so hard on Amy Schumer. Women like her who have chosen to stand up for themselves and face the bullies are being so embraced.
Whether or not you agree with Ayn Rand - and I have certain issues with some of her beliefs - the woman can tell a story. I mean, the novel as an art form is just in full florid bloom in 'Atlas Shrugged.' It's an unbelievable story. The characters are so compelling, and what she's saying is mind-expanding.
I've honestly been really lucky. My only jobs have been babysitting and acting.
When I look back on my twenties, I just remember being afraid of everything, and in my thirties, I'm actually excited by things. And if things don't work out, you know, by the time you've hit your thirties, you've had your fair share of disappointments.
I've worked with people and I've known people that were really competitive, but I've always said that I take an Elizabeth Bennett philosophy of life - I laugh. I love my job, but if it means hurting someone, I won't do it.
I kind of got my big break with 'The Princess Diaries' and during the press rounds for that everyone asked me: 'Did you always want to be a princess growing up?' And the truth was, no I wanted to be Catwoman.
We assume that we've come so far as compassionate citizens of the world if we do choose to read the news, yet the attitude towards life can be one where we put blinders on and forget that there are civil wars going on. It's easy to forget that there are so many people starving to death every single day.
I look around at my peers, and I'm so blown away by their talent and their beauty and their cool style, as well as their ability to be an actress and be a movie star and be good at it. I mean, they're so good, and we're all trying to get the same parts.
I love rom-coms, and I was bummed that they sort of stopped making them around the time I was old enough to be in them. But at the same time, I so respected the fact that the genre kind of needed an update. But you know, even when rom-coms were at their hey-day, very few people did it at the level of Nancy Meyers.
I think that Jersey Shore is awesome. I've gone to Cape May every summer of my life.
I disagree with a couple of the stances of the Catholic Church. My older brother is gay, and it's important for me to be able to love him completely and freely, and it's important for me to spread beliefs in the world that are not going to limit people in their love. I can't support a religion that doesn't support my brother.
I'm obsessed with Kate Middleton. Obsessed. I loved the Royal Wedding. I was so cynical going into it, and pseudo-political about the whole thing, but as soon as I saw her, I was utterly charmed. I'm just completely enchanted by Kate and William.
I was raised in a solidly upper-middle class family who had really strong values and excess was not one of the things that my family put up with. And there's something wildy decadent about the young-star lifestyle, and I just don't really see the point.
I remember when I was starting out as a young actress, thinking, 'Oh my God, I have the fattest face.' Now I look at those pictures and I think, 'So much collagen!'
I damaged my health during 'Les Mis,' which I didn't want to mention in case it seemed like I was courting sympathy.
I was thrust into a really lofty, enviable, but isolated position with 'Princess Diaries' in that I could carry a film before I really knew if I could act.
'One Day' is definitely heartbreaking in a few ways, but one of the main ways is that my character and Jim Sturgess's character are just people from two different worlds who love each other in so many ways and can't quite seem to get it together.
When I was in my early twenties, parts would be written for women in their fifties, and I would get them. And now I'm in my early thirties, and I'm like, 'Why did that 24-year-old get that part?' I was that 24-year-old once. I can't be upset about it; it's the way things are.
If you're not someone who has a natural and effortless love for yourself, it's hard to let go of your desire to please other people, and that's really not an ingredient for a happy life.
