Jennifer Lawrence shows off her short hairdo at the “Catching Fire” premiere in Los Angeles. / Getty Images
I love the haircut.
Thank you. I know, I’m like a cat back from the groomers, where I’m so insecure. I need as much positive reinforcement as I can get.
As soon as something went up about your haircut, someone online chimed in with, “It must be a wig.”
[Laughs] Yeah, I know. That’s just how it works. The most important thing is to not read it, Jennifer! [Laughs] I’m really good at it. The only time that it does happen is when I’m with friends. I have two friends that are avid Googlers. They basically do what I would do if I didn’t have the self-esteem. They’re like, “What is everybody saying about Jennifer?” It’s sweet, they care. When my Dior photos came out, I hadn’t seen them so they looked them up on whatever Web site with all these comments, and I saw the comments and I was like, “I can’t stop myself!” I started scrolling and it was like, “She’s so conceited!” “She’s a pig and I hope she dies!” [Laughs]
Never read the comments.
Exactly. I was like, “I’m sorry if I look conceited — I understand — in Dior couture clothes. But I didn’t get to keep them. Why would you want me to die?” But that’s just how the world works. I’m not going to get worked up about it.
Can I tell you the most ridiculous thing I’ve read about you?
Yes!
There was this “inside Hollywood” post on Reddit where someone wrote, “Jennifer Lawrence employs a professional joke-writer.”
Employs a professional joke-writer? [Laughs] Oh my God, that is my biggest fear with this new [“Hunger Games” movie], because we’re doing [press junkets] again. Last night I was laying in bed going, “Everybody’s obviously going to get sick of it, the goofy, crazy [stuff].” It was maybe funny for one season, but if it just continues everybody’s going to be like, “OK, calm down.” So I tried to make a conscious effort to be poised and mature this time around. I was like, “I have to change myself.”
How’s that working out?
It’s not. But I just have this thought that everybody’s going to think it was perfectly planned. That actually goes into my nightmares. If I had read that, I would’ve been like, “Oh my God, how do I prove that it’s not true?” But it will exhaust me. I’m so anxious and high-strung, and I’m such a worrier anyway that I’ve gotten good about making a wall of the things that I can’t [deal with]. I’m like, “I can’t even begin to worry about you right now. I’m already worried about cancer.” [Laughs]
I worry about cancer.
Yeah, everybody does. And then worrying gives you cancer. Everything does.
What’s the most inappropriate thing you’ve done with your Oscar?
I put it in a closet by my bathroom — but only because it made me feel weird to look at it because I was like, “What am I supposed to feel? Am I feeling what I’m supposed to?” It made me over-think in my own house. And then I didn’t want anybody who’s coming over [to see it]. The last thing I want you … to be is intimidated. So it’s with my parents now. My mom can intimidate people.
You’ve been very outspoken about body image issues and negativity.
We need to go easy on each other. And the media is so responsible for it. The worst part is that they pretend they aren’t responsible for it. They’re like, “It’s the real world.” Everybody puts that defense up of, “Oh, this is just the way the world works.” But what if we said that in the ’40s and ’50s when black people had to use different bathrooms? “Sorry, welcome to the real world.” Until you stand up for something and change it, the world isn’t going to change.
Here’s a random question: Have you ever come up with weird nicknames for parts of your body?
No, I haven’t. Should I?
Well, I’ve been referred to —affectionately — as Sausage Fingers.
Oh my God! I’m Grubby Paws because I have sausage fingers too! Cool! [high-fives] Can you get liposuction in your fingers? I need to find a surgeon who will do that. My feet are very individual. My giant shoulders — at least they’ll protect me.
