feature image via Karim Sadli for The New York Times.
In this month’s edition of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, center of my actual beating heart Kristen Stewart talks about her struggles with anxiety, her love for her girlfriend, her appreciation for the craft of acting and most importantly, the fact that she has been hiding a private Instagram account from me THIS ENTIRE TIME. Kristen, I thought we were friends.
Writer Nicholas Haramis notes several times how open and comfortable Stewart appears, how markedly at ease and different she seems from her pouty, perpetually miserable public persona. Her Los Feliz home sounds pretty much exactly how one would imagine – stocked with mementos from her films, fashion and photography books, a Playboy pinball machine, some metal letters spelling out the word ASS, Kerouac, Dostoevsky and Kafka novels, and oh – a garage full of paintings inspired by her poetry, which will later be turned into artistic short films. Of one painting, she explains, “It’s basically about that moment when you wake up and you get dressed and you realize, ‘I’m not sad anymore. I’m not saturated anymore. I’ve been dropped back into everyone else’s reality and now I can live again.'” She sheepishly tells Haramis, “Yeah, I mean, I’m not, like, good. It just feels nice to apply paint to something.”
My personal favorite part of the article is where Kristen mysteriously leads Haramis into her garage, described here as “the most intimate room of the house.” I imagine it went something like this:
Stewart has seemed much more at-ease in recent interviews, reportedly due to her happiness with her adorable partner Alicia Cargile. In this interview, she giddily shows Haramis pictures of the pair in her private Instagram account and gushes about how cute Cargile is. Kristen Stewart could have been headlining No Filter THIS WHOLE TIME and I feel very personally betrayed, but whatever Kristen.
As for Twilight truthers insisting that Stewart must just be biding time before she can reunite with former costar and distant ex Robert Pattinson, Stewart explains, “People wanted me and Rob to be together so badly that our relationship was made into a product. It wasn’t real life anymore. And that was gross to me. It’s not that I want to hide who I am or hide anything I’m doing in my life. It’s that I don’t want to become a part of a story for entertainment value.”
Our Lady of Perpetual Resting Bitch Face seems increasingly driven to seek out challenging roles and expand her repertoire as an actress, describing acting at different times as “an explorative, meditative, moving, beautiful, transcendent experience that brings us all closer,” “tapping into a magic world,” “finding a portal” and my personal favorite, “harnessing a fluid.” She admits to having struggled with the balance between exposing herself as an actress in her roles and exposing herself as a heavily scrutinized public figure. “How do you feel like you’re not being stolen from, yet at the same time not guard yourself to the point of depriving yourself of so much goodness in life?” she asks. Stewart describes having found a certain level of resiliency and indestructible energy within herself, and seems much less ruled by the anxiety and insecurity which made much of her earlier experience with fame so uncomfortable.
“I’m not the typical showman,” she tells Haramis, “but at the same time, I want so badly to expose myself. I want to be understood and I want to be seen, and I want to do that in the rawest, purest, most naked way I can.”
If Kristen Stewart ever puts out a book of poetry a la A Night Without Armor, I will preorder it the second it becomes available. In the meantime, she is currently starring in Cafe Society, a film by a terrible person that I am not going to see.
I know mentioning his name is not on, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why so many great actors want to be in his films – can anyone explain this? I’ve watched one of his films in its entirety, and two others I could not finish – I’m guessing it’s about 100 minutes of my life I won’t get back.
What’s the attraction?
prestige within a fucked up industry that still sides with an abuser? Money? IDK, his son wrote an op ed once about how many people asked him to not talk about it, so I’m guessing there’s a lot of pressure from people within the industry to maintain the status quo
I’m really disappointed by the number of actors and actresses who continue to work with him. It’s not like they’re desperate for the extra million dollars. And once someone marries one of the girls he help raise, how hard is it to believe that he abused another of them?
That pretty much sums it up.
I refuse to see his films in theater, but I’ve seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona a number of times, checked out from my local library. I love the movie, probably because PENELOPE CRUZ.
I wish my pets ironed my clothes
saaaame
Thank you for introducing me to the term Twilight Truthers, I am so happy now
I can’t believe this is actually still a thing. It is time to let Twilight go. Rob and Kristen are not Bella and Edward.
one conspiracy theory that i saw said that alicia is really her cousin and this is all a giant ruse to give rob and kristen the privacy they so desperately crave. i had a field day with it until i realized i was probably making fun of teenagers :/
No, I don’t think a lot of them are teenagers. The Twilight fandom was quite known for the amount of grown ass married women who were obsessed with this couple. They call themselves Twilight moms. I feel like actual teenagers have moved on to other couples or fandoms by now. Besides, Rob is engaged to a whole other woman. What is their conspiracy theory about that? What is their conspiracy theory about Kristen cheating on him a few years back? Nevermind, I don’t want to know. These people seem like the type who are still waiting for Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams to get back together.
perpetual lurker here: I feel slightly bad that this is my second comment on the site and both comments have been book recommendations (because sharing books is easier than sharing feelings y’all) but if you haven’t read it, Fanpire, by Tanya Erzen is a fascinating look at the world of twighlight fandom, moms, teens, and all.
no i love this, tell me everything.
Omg Dani I need to read this
I understand if you don’t believe me, but earlier today I was literally wondering whether Kristen Stewart had a private instagram account. I decided she probably did not, because wouldn’t vetting followers be a real hassle? That kind of everyman struggle with technology seems a little pedestrian for her. As does memorializing her frappuccinos and brunches. But I guess I stand corrected!
“Harnessing a fluid” is exactly the sort of adult queer comic I didn’t know I was waiting for, thanks for that.
You have to understand how Hollywood works. Nothing is real; everything is very carefully planned. Propaganda is the watch word among agents and marketers. She and Pattinson weren’t together. Haven’t you ever noticed how all the heterosexual couples are “together” until their movie is finished or their show is canceled? Then they move on – usually to their next co-star. Hollywood feeds this nonsense to heterosexual women for various reasons and the celebrities always play their parts because it means money and maybe longevity. Even Stewart’s quote about their so-called relationship borders on a confession.
You need to see this and talk about this and fangirl with me about this :)
http://polaroidsays.tumblr.com/post/149628099175/httpsactbuildonorgfundraisefcid-656603
What a day to be alive :)