Blake Lively covers the new issue of Allure. It occurred to me over the weekend: Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson are hitting separate promotional trails at the same time. ScarJo, Ryan Reynolds’ first wife, is promoting The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Blake, Ryan’s second wife, is promoting The Age of Adeline. Which “Age” will be victorious? Um, I think we all know the answer to that. Anyway, these Allure photos are beautiful. I like Blake’s hair a little darker like this. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Her work on Gossip Girl: “People loved it, but it always felt a little personally compromising—you want to be putting a better message out there. The lines become blurred. It doesn’t help when everybody is dating who they’re dating on the show, and you’re also saying to the costume designer, ‘Hey, can I take that home?’ It’s a weird thing when people feel like they know you really well, and they don’t. I would not be proud to be the person who gave someone the cocaine that made them overdose and then shot someone and slept with someone else’s boyfriend.”

Announcing her pregnancy on Preserve: “That was my way of owning that moment. I can’t be someone like Beyoncé and be like— [Lively mimes Beyonce’s mic-drop] – but it was important for us. It was a struggle, because we want to keep our privacy, but we also don’t want our lives to be exploited by other people. So we did it simply; it was a quiet way, an elegant way.”

Breastfeeding: “It’s a full-time job. I’m, like, driving down the road, pumping.”

The idea of “having it all”: “Most of the things I do are all-consuming, but somehow I find a way to do it all. It’s not having it all; it’s about doing it all but it’s dangerous to dilute that to a catchphrase. Having it all could be having a happy, healthy family, and you could be a mom who stays at home, and that is the most admirable thing you could do. Or it could be having a profession that you really believe in, and not having a family, and doing what fulfills you. If it’s not a part of a conversation with someone face-to-face, those bites are why women tear each other apart or why the media will tear people apart.”

Juggling motherhood with career: “I look at the big picture. Most women don’t get that. There’s a lot of pressure on women to be a certain thing, and there are compromises you have to make. You don’t get to be with your family all the time; most women don’t. I don’t believe I have to choose—who says so? Who says we can’t do anything that we set our mind to? You may not be the best at it. You may not be the most successful. But you can try your best. That’s what having it all means to me—not letting anyone tell me no but myself.”

[From E! News]

I rolled my eyes when Blake describes her own pregnancy announcement as “quiet and elegant.” Girl, you used your pregnancy to shill your lifestyle site!! As for Blake’s comments about having it all/doing it all and work/motherhood struggles, I know what she’s trying to say and I agree with her. I just think she could have taken the time to list more examples other than “the most admirable thing” of being a stay-at-home mom versus not having kids and working. There are more options than that! Which is what she was trying to say, she just fell into her own verbal trap.

Oh, and calling Gossip Girl “personally compromising”? Blake, don’t disrespect the show that made you a star.

Photos courtesy of Allure.