I’ve grown to like Zoe Kravitz more and more over the years. Do I think she’s a world-class actress? Eh, not really. But she’s an interesting celebrity and I like seeing her choices, her friendships, her fashion and her boyfriends. She’s more interesting to me than most of the 20-something starlets out there. Zoe covers the new issue of Complex – you can read the full piece here, plus see the latex-themed photoshoot. It’s sort of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with a dash of Fifty Shades of Grey. The interview is wide-ranging, with discussion about her parents, her past eating disorders and an acknowledgment that she’s benefitted from nepotism. Some highlights:
Her “normal” life: “When I was younger. I really wanted to prove to people I was a normal human being, that I was cool, chill. When kids were mean, the first thing they’d say is, ‘She thinks she’s so f–king cool because her dad is famous,’ I just wanted to fit in.”
Lenny Kravitz was a super-embarrassing dad: “He would come pick me up from school sometimes when he was in town in a sports car and a netted shirt, and I’d be like, ‘Ugh.’ That was when ‘Fly Away’ came out.”
Her struggles with eating disorders: “I had a really hard time when I was 16, 17, 18. I started with the eating disorder in high school… Just [a hard time] loving myself.” In high school, she became anorexic and bulimic—“awful diseases” she’d battle to various degrees until the last two or so years. And here, she’s willing to acknowledge to a certain degree her pedigree playing a darker kind of role: “I think it was part of being a woman, and being surrounded by [fame]… I don’t think it was about the fame, but I think it was definitely about being around that world, seeing that world. I felt pressured.”
Playing an anorexic in ‘The Road Within’ in 2013: “My parents got really scared for me to go back down that road. It was f–ked up, man. You could see my rib cage. I was just trying to lose more weight for the film but I couldn’t see: You’re there. Stop. It was scary.” She got sick after filming wrapped. She didn’t get her period regularly because she was too malnourished. Her immune system shut down, her thyroid was thrown off.
Moving past her eating disorder: “It made me not only confront my demons, but also realize and accept an insecurity that’s still there, and [that it’s] easy to fall back into that pattern. I feel like something has left my body, like some part of me is gone now, something that was making me so insecure. And it feels amazing.”
She admits that things were handed to her: “It was very easy for me to get an agent when I wanted to act, for obvious reasons. And I don’t know, maybe it’s not because they thought I was talented—I wasn’t the most talented girl in the world when I was 15. It was because my parents were famous, and they were like, ‘Cool, maybe we can make money off of that.’ I know so many talented people that do the most amazing things but they need to work at a restaurant. I don’t. I can make all the art I want and get paid to do it—it’s f–king crazy. I’m so thankful for it.”
The situation with Drake: They’re “very good friends… I’m very flirtatious. [But] he’s family to me. He’s a really, really awesome dude. We inspire each other. We play each other music.”
[From Complex]
I think she’s totally hitting it with Drake. Now, I don’t think she’s his girlfriend or anything, but my guess is that they have some kind of friends-with-benefits situation. And I’ll also believe that she has the same kind of situation with Chris Pine (get it, girl). But even Zoe admits that guys don’t ask her out and she’s constantly being told, “You’re so cool that I can’t handle it.” I believe that.
As for her eating disorders… I didn’t realize she was struggling with anorexia and bulimia so recently. Like, it sounds as if she only got her health on track in the past two years. I’m glad she’s doing better and I hope she’s surrounding herself with positive people.
Photos courtesy of Complex.
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